[BAZININJA]

Well, it WAS a nice Ducati.. Lucky he walked away and could still ride it.
He must've been really haulin' because that turn doesn't look that sharp.

 

[bweighmaster]

I teach my riders to look up the road / trail / track ..., If you look at it (whatever ) you will hit it .,,, . Look down ,.... fall down ..., . Heads up ..Eyes open ....,

 

[gunsmoker]

He must've been really haulin' because that turn doesn't look that sharp.

Judging by how little the cycle slid on the road and shoulder (20 feet?) ,
and
seeing how it stopped without hitting the guard rail,

I'm thinking that the rider successfully cut his speed way back thru braking and skidding.

 

[DannoXYZ]

I wonder if dry clutch is toast from all that gravel?

 

[WormGear]

No ABS on that bike?
Perfect scenario for an airbag vest...Just saying. (I know they're for geeks)

 

[Bitterroot Bugler]

It looks suspiciously like he reduced the rear brake pressure at the last moment, at which point the rear tire regained the traction his skidding it had taken away, sending him instantly up and over (and out ). It also seems from available evidence that he could have simply leaned in and made the turn - that the bike and tires were up to it, just not the rider.

 

[Heartbroken]

That looked like it HURT.

 

[Misti]

I'm trying to figure out this target fixation thing, is the idea that you almost subconciously control the bike and you'll inevitably go where you are fixating? That's kinda scary but makes sense. like someone with not enough confidence riding is gonna focus on the hazard and not the road and wind up riding right toward the hazard instead of where they wanted to go?

Target fixation is just that. Here is a paragraph from an article I wrote for Motorcycle Mojo Magazine:

"Target fixation usually means involuntarily staring at something and losing sight of everything else around you. The root cause of target fixation is fear and panic, and because of that, riders generally fixate on things that their mind considers dangerous.

For example, if you come around a corner a little faster than you’re comfortable with and begin to panic, your eyes may target fixate on the concrete barrier at the outside edge of the road. Because you are now intently staring at the edge, your bike begins to go towards the barrier, and unless you can release your eyes from the clutches of target fixation, you’ll probably hit the wall."

-kind of describes the situation from the video perfectly. The errors in this video started when the rider panicked and experienced what we call (at the California Superbike School) survival reactions. Survival reactions are unconscious reactions that come from our instinct to avoid danger, but they often cause the opposite. There are seven listed in Code's book, Twist of the Wrist II. They are:
1. Roll off the gas
2. Tighten on bars
3. Narrowed and 'hunting' field of view (tunnel vision)
4. Fixed attention on something (target fixation)
5. Steering in the direction of the fixed attention
6. No steering (frozen) or ineffective (not quick enough or too early) steering
7. Braking errors- both over and under braking

Guy in the video experienced a few of these panic induced survival reactions, with one of them being target fixation on the outside edge of the road (the guardrail) which he inevitably hit.

What other survival reactions cropped up for him?

 

[Offcenter]

It's very simple. You are going to GO where you LOOK.
If you look at the pothole, you will hit the pothole.
If you look at the tree, you will hit the tree.

 

[-Nate]

Simple to us experienced riders, to many not so much .

Target fixation is a real thing .