‘Feeling one with the machine’ while being on an enjoyable motorcycle ride should ring true for most biking enthusiasts. Our muscles, sensory organs, brain and limbs come together and bond with the machine to create a gratifying experience we call motorcycling. Talking specifically about sensory organs, of all the senses we possess, vision arguably plays the most crucial role in enabling a motorcyclist to ride more ably. A sharp vision, or the ability to see well, is crucial not just for safety, but also to help you go faster when you are in the mood to give your machine the beans. Your vision is one of the most critical aspects of your ability to ride well. In this informative article, we share some tips which will help you enhance this sensory skill to ride better.
Be sure about your eyesight
Even if you think that your eyesight is perfect, it will not hurt to get it checked every once in a while. While you would always want to believe that your vision is 20/20, sometimes it is not until you put on a pair of prescription glasses that you realise a world of difference the corrected optics have made to your vision. Hence, testing your vision every once in a while will ensure that your vision is functioning optimally, and that is very important, as none of the tips in this article will work if your eyes are not functioning the way they should.
Use a helmet that does not obstruct your peripheral vision
Helmets are of paramount importance when it comes to the safety of riders. However, all helmets are not made equal. While some helmets offer an excellent field of vision, some other specimens have a narrower opening and obstruct peripheral vision. Ensure that your helmet offers a wide field of vision and does not hinder you from observing what is happening on the sides of the road.
Avoid tunnel vision
While a good helmet will help you widen your field of vision, you cannot improve your awareness of the surroundings if you are suffering from tunnel vision. Some riders have this problem of focusing only on a narrow patch on the road ahead, primarily straight, completely ignoring what is happening on the sides, or the periphery. The only thing which can help you in avoiding tunnel vision is to work on your peripheral vision. The peripheral vision is the field of vision outside the centre of gaze. It enables us to detect things happening around us without the need to turn our head, and is very important to sense danger and take evasive action.
Always keep an eye out for danger
The chaos, indiscipline and lack of awareness on Indian roads are not quite comparable to any other part of the world. You simply cannot be cautious enough on our perilous roadways. So even with a perfect vision, you have to ensure that you are being extra cautious and consciously looking out for any signs of danger on the road. Expecting an animal to spring out of the bushes or the truck ahead to swerve uncontrollably into your lane is not being extra cautious, it is standard safety protocol. In a nutshell, an essential aspect of improving your vision is to use it proactively in anticipating unexpected danger.
Look where you want to go
Looking out far is one of the most basic techniques one should practice while learning to ride a motorcycle. Looking far ahead on the road, especially around bends, at the point where you want to position the bike helps you get in better control. Your body position and handlebar inputs instinctively change based on your gaze, putting you in better control. Training your vision to look at the right part of the road is essential to ride with more control.
Keep your visor clean and scratch-free
It might sound like a basic routine, but sometimes even seasoned riders ignore this significant bit. First up, always wear a full-face helmet while riding. Not only does it offer the rider complete protection in case of a mishap, it also shields the face from dust, bugs, wind, water and other foreign elements, in turn enhancing vision. The helmet's visor serves as the rider’s window to the world and if it is full of stains and smudges, their vision is drastically hampered. Having any scratches, dust or streak marks on your helmet is hazardous at any time of the day, but it is dangerous once the sun crawls behind the horizon. Stain and dust particles scatter the light from the oncoming vehicles, bringing down your ability to see clearly in the process. Always keep your helmet's visor squeaky clean, scratch-free and avoid using tinted visors while riding in the dark.
Avoid target fixation
Target fixation in motorcycling terms is a rider's tendency to fixate their attention on a hazard which they should ideally be looking away from. In doing this, a rider generally ends up steering their machine towards the hazard instead of avoiding it. This increases their risk of colliding with the object. You have to train your mind and eyes not to focus on the ‘target’ or the obstacle and figure a way around it instead. An inability to look away from an obstacle or to jot out an escape route makes us go where our eyes take us, often directly into the object. Part of avoiding target fixation is focusing on and looking at a safe route around the obstacle rather than gazing at the obstacle itself.
Slow down
Your brain requires time to process information. An overload of information, coupled with the occasional need for a quick evasive action might lead to an error in judgement and, sometimes, an accident. Even with perfect vision, good training and ample riding experience, if you are trying to ride too fast through a demanding environment with too much information to process, the chances of a miscalculation are pretty high. In areas where there are too many elements to account for, the chances of a mishap are higher, so slow down to allow your vision to scan the surroundings well enough and equip yourself with more time to find the safest way through.
Use Pinlock anti-fog visors
Riding in wet, damp or foggy weather presents an additional challenge for the vision, with the inner part of your helmet's visor fogging up. To counter this problem, you should ride with a helmet equipped with a Pinlock anti-fog visor. A Pinlock lens has a thin layer of air between the Pinlock lens and the helmet visor. This air chamber keeps the temperature difference between the inside and the outside of the visor to a minimum to keep your visor fog-free even on cold and damp days.
Use high beam when there's no oncoming traffic
While using the high beam setting is not recommended when you have the traffic coming in from the opposite direction, you can raise the beam higher to increase your longitudinal field of vision on empty roads. High beam allows you to see farther and enables you to scan the road better, enhancing your vision and allowing you to ride safer and faster.
Let there be light
Two-wheelers with feeble, inadequate lighting systems act as an open invitation to accidents. A bad headlight impairs your vision as it doesn’t provide sufficient illumination in the dark. Ensure that your two-wheeler has a capable set of headlights with proper throw, intensity and spread. Also, ensure that your vehicle’s electrical system and all the lighting units are in good health.
Rest well before setting out
Before embarking on a long ride, taking proper rest should be considered a prerequisite. Eyes require adequate rest before you put them at work for hours straight. Tired eyes tend to focus less and it isn’t the brightest of ideas to rely on a weary pair of eyes while riding a motorcycle as one has to be attentive at all times. If you feel that your eyes need a break, it is advisable to take a breather rather than pushing yourself and putting yourself and other road users in danger.