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5.7 Target fixation:

5.7.1 Contribution:

- Eye vision is fundamental for a 2-Wheeler to be steered along the desired line of travel at the right speed.

5.7.2 Limits:

- But 'Target Fixation' of the eyes seems more like a psychological concept.  Nothing explains mechanically how 2-Wheelers are steered towards where we look at, while we only have to turn the steering wheel to change the orientation of a car.

- This concept can help motorcyclists be aware of and avoid staring at targets they must avoid, in order to help them avoid going straight at them against their will. But the lack of correct understanding of the target fixation phenomenon supports riders’ feeling that it's just a psychological trick that does not threaten them.

5.7.3 Better understanding of Target fixation:

a) Psychological aspect of Target Fixation:

If someone stands along the side of a high building rooftop, he risks being frightened, looking below, stumbling and then falling down. Same thing if there’s a hole in the pavement, a rider risks staring at it and falling into it. A rider could also be surprised by an obstacle to avoid on the road. He could stare at the dangerous obstacle and freeze . He would then be experiencing Target Fixation and chances are he’d go right into this obstacle.

Such simple examples do not really explain how mechanically the 2-Wheeler goes right where we look at. Moreover and at any speed, a rider can look right, left, up or down and the 2-Wheeler simply keeps on going straight. But it's impossible to avoid changing direction if we lean our back sideways and forwardly while pushing on the same side of the handlebar, as though we were throwing our torso and body in the direction we’re looking at. The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory explains the essential role of the eye vision that acts with the torso movements, the arms and the handlebar to steer a bicycle or motorcycle. This theory thus incorporates and supports the importance of rider vision.

b) Target Fixation is a dangerous trap for motorcyclists:

With such simple psychological examples like standing along a rooftop, any motorcyclist who doesn’t fear riding may well consider Target Fixation of a dangerous target as not being a problem for him. He then risks getting into real trouble since the situation is worse then it looks because of the very nature of 2-Wheelers.

A rider could be surprised and could freeze staring at the imminence of a collision. If he forgot or he’s not fully confident with the countersteering technique because of its conflicting nature, he may try to orient the handlebar towards where he wants to go, as he does in a car. The negative result could rapidly force him to stop turning the handlebar. The even greater imminence of the collision could make him try his maneuver again without any more success. He would then go straight towards the obstacle. The rider could then be considered to have experienced 'Target Fixation'. But the truth is that he has in fact been trapped by the basic countersteering 'principle' that he does not control adequately and stopped him from getting out of trouble. So when motorcycling, it's as though someone was frozen on the edge of a high building rooftop, but walking on a slide sloping downwards.

A motorcycle rider could also be going at high speed in a curve, towards the right for instance. He could see that he is going so fast that even if his 2-Wheeler is leaned extremely, he is still getting closer to the center line on the road. Being frightened, he may concentrate even more on this center line and his extreme lean angle. His brain may then become like an overloaded computer not being able to treat all information in real time. The rider may then stop acting on the handlebar so that the intrinsic stability of the motorcycle (with its front fork geometry and front wheel acting as a gyroscope) will keep it on course, which will be fatal if the curve goes on tightening. The rider may even forget about braking to tighten his course. So how could he think of pushing-pulling on the right side of the handlebar. He must obviously develop good automatic reactions, but which ones and how?

This example may seem far fetched. You could think that it only happens to fouls going too fast... You may be right, but I can witness that it can happen to many persons: During the Raid des 21  mountain bike sport event of August 2004, I reached 82 Km/h (even though I had big deep tread tires) going down towards St-Urbain, close to Baie St-Paul, Québec. Sadly, another competitor was leaning in the ditch on the left side of the last curve going into St-Urbain, because he was unable to make it through the curve. Although I had a good physical, technical and mental preparation, I found myself at the right edge of the road center line in that curve. Afterwards, I realized that I was trying to see how that competitor was in that left ditch, that I was watching my bicycle leaning angle to avoid having a pedal touching the ground, that I felt too close to that center line, that a car could suddenly appear coming in the opposite direction, that I was going very fast... To make it short, I never though of using my brakes to make sure I could turn. It's not that I wanted to keep my rank in the race, it's simply because my brain had too much information to treat. Conclusion: It doesn't only happen to others and we have to develop good automatic survival reactions both on bicycles and motorcycles.

c) The countersteering technique to counteract Target Fixation:

When riding above 30-40 Km/h, front wheel gyroscopic reactions become so strong that pushing-pulling on the handlebar must be done vigorously to control a motorcycle. The countersteering technique is thus useful since it tells how to push-pull on the handlebar in order to steer.

But this technique may slow down obstacle avoidance because of the time lost thinking about which side to orient the handlebar. Even worse, we may react incorrectly and orient the front wheel in the wrong direction. And if it's oriented in the right direction, pushing can be fast, but there’s a danger of pushing too hard and lacking the precision needed to change lane and go in-between other vehicles.

d) The torso-Arms-Handlebar technique to counteract Target Fixation:

In order to counteract Target Fixation, a good method would have to be based on a rider's most natural and fastest reactions.

If we’re going to hit an obstacle, a natural reaction may be to freeze when frightened, without being able to further react. A first element of solution to this problem obviously is to avoid being afraid, in order to avoid freezing. It's thus necessary to learn a steering technique that reassures us, a technique that’s natural in order to fall back to it and apply it easily, and a technique that’s also fast and precise. The Torso-Arms-Handlebar technique answers this need.

This technique is reassuring in that it explains simply and clearly a whole lot of questions concerning 2-Wheeler steering, to the point that one wonders why the answers had eluded us so long.

If we’re going to hit an obstacle and we’re not frozen by the danger, a natural reaction is to avoid this obstacle with our eyes, our head and our body. The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory precisely recommends using such a natural reaction to avoid an obstacle. It recommends looking towards where we want to go and then project our torso, eyes, head and body in that direction, by leaning sideways and towards that direction while pushing on the handlebar on the same side. Thus it involves a natural and automatic reaction.

The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory clearly explains, mechanically, how a 2-Wheeler will follow the rider’s torso leaning, fast and precisely. The rider then only has to 'throw' his torso towards where he wants to go in order to avoid an obstacle and go in between other vehicles or into another lane on the road. The 2-Wheeler then follows the rider's movements with speed and precision.

In order to make the obstacle avoidance maneuver even more reassuring and automatic, the Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory recommends often practicing an easy slalom drill on the road. This drill happens to have the additional peculiar advantage of being pleasant because it touches one of motorcyclists’ feelings. It gives them the highly sought freedom sensation of riding a machine that obeys them perfectly. You simply 'think' of going in one direction to have yours eyes go in that direction, have your body flex in that direction, have your torso act on your arms and the handlebar, have the front wheel re-oriented automatically and have the motorcycle follow you…

The Torso-Arms-Handlebar theory is nothing extraordinary, but it can improve the Countersteering technique, it can explain how Target Fixation works mechanically and it can help counteract Target Fixation of a dangerous target.

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