Professor Teresa Senserrick: The Most Important Thing Is To Move Around So That People Can See You.

With a high rate of motorcycle deaths on our roads in the past few months, Russell Clarke and Lisa spoke to the Director of the Western Australian Centre for Road Safety Research Professor Teresa Senserrick. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So a disturbing and a space of motorbike fatalities we're
hearing about in the news over the last a lot
a few weeks. Professor Theresa Censeric is the director of
the West Australian Center for Roads Safety Research, which is
based at UWA and supported by the Road Safety Commission,

(00:21):
and Professor Censeric is joining us this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, good morning, Hello, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Now, as we said, there seems to be a higher
number of motorcycle accidents than usual just lately. I mean
there's been what three in the last ten days or something.
Even our traffic reports are reminding people to keep an
eye out for motorcyclists. So we're not imagining that there
has been a sudden uptick, are we.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
No, we're not. And we had a national road Safety
conference yesterday which this is happening across the country. Wow.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
So I mean, as someone who is the director of
Road Safety Research, what does your research tell us as
to why.

Speaker 4 (01:02):
It must be some reason why it's all of us?

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, why it's getting worse we think is I hate
to say, but it's partly due to bad habits learnt
during the COVID lockdown and reopening. Really, yes, we motorcycles
have been really one of the cohorts that are really
good about not having any alcohol or drugs when they're
riding because they really understand. You know, we understand the

(01:27):
effects of just small amounts and we're very vulnerable on
a bike. So unfortunately, you know, at a lot of
people took up riding and did a lot more riding,
and that's one of the factors that's contributing. Maybe there's
some inexperienced people out there that are not realizing how
much effect it has. But you look, it's really hard

(01:51):
until we can really look at trends over time to
really understand is this just a random patch or is
there a trend going on? We really need to intervene here.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Still a little bit early in the piece, you think possibly,
I think so.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
But I think it's really important for everyone to know.
Most often when there's multiple vehicles in a crash, it's
most often a driver of another vehicle that's at fault.
It's not all about what motorcyclists are doing. And we
have a limitation as humans, our eyes and the way
our brain process is information. We are all subject to

(02:29):
this that if we're really attending to something else in
the environment, we're going to miss other things. And there's
a known phenomenon called inattentional blindness. If you don't believe me,
there's some fantastic videos people could look up online and
see how when we're really trying to look at something else,
we're missing other things that are going because there's only

(02:49):
so much we can take in a process or someone's time.

Speaker 4 (02:53):
And professor, have you noticed is there a particular age
or a demographic gender that are involved in these accidents?
Is are you seeing a pattern? Even though it's early
still yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Look, just because of the amount of writers out there,
most there's the high proportion of males, So we can't
we can't really say there's there's any changes in gender
at this point. And but I do have to say
a lot of us like to maybe we did some
writing when we were young, and we get a bit
older and we like to go back to writing. And

(03:30):
things are different, you know. Bikes are bikes are different,
The traffic patterns are different, populations different, yes, poul different.
For some of those huge vehicles on the road to
be in blind spot, all.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Those four wheel drives, I mean, I drive a small
car that's low to the ground, and I have more
chance of seeing under them than around them when I
pull up at a stop sign, so I kin't of
you know, my car is still a lot bigger than
a motorbike, though, professor, is there an issue also in
that this is one of these cases where I find,

(04:04):
you know, the motorcyclist always likes to blame drivers, and
drivers always like to blame motorcyclists, you know, in the online.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Debates and some on that you see.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
Do we need to try to get past that to
be able to just find a solution it stop blaming
each other.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I really think we are all human and we all
have limitations in our vision and the information processing is mentioned. Drivers,
if you get somebody to walk around your car and
look in your mirrors, even if you have the blind
spot technology, get them to walk out just one meter
wider and see where they absolutely disappear in those wider areas,

(04:42):
and motorcycles can be at the far side of a
lane and you can miss them. And for motorcyclists, you know,
sometimes we say we hear, you know, stay in the
right wheel track while you're right in front of the
vision of the driver, or others like to sit in
the left wheel track or the middle most all of
that is incorrect. The most important thing is to move

(05:03):
around so that people can see you, Yes, particularly if
they're coming in from other lanes or it's not just
the people behind you, So you need to you need
to ride defensively so that you are better seen and
that drivers see you. And yes, I know that it
looks like drivers are looking straight at you and come

(05:23):
towards you, but trust me, they are not perceiving you.
They might be looking your way, but they are actually
not seen you.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
So even the new technology and cars, you know, like
you said, the sensor.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Probably making people even lazier though possibly.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, if we get reliant on them, exactly, do your
head checks and the other catches the filtering when the
traffic is moving slow motorcyclists, we're legally permitted to come
between the lanes of traffic, but that is another one
that really I just never do it. Drivers are looking

(05:57):
to see, oh there's a gap over there. Oh I'm
supposed to be turning left right, and they change and
they are not looking up the middle of the lane.

Speaker 4 (06:04):
No, no you don't, because especially if the traffic is stationary,
that's right, So.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
I really advise against it for everyone out.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
There, all right, at the end of the day, everyone
just a little bit of patience, yeah, and under warning
for everyone.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, I'm just understanding that these are not intentional things.
I don't think we can say any driver or rite
it are intentionally trying to know it does us unless
you know you have a road right situation. It's just
this is just the nature of writing that we have
to be really vigilant about sharing the roads.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Despite the technology. Everybody needs to still be aware basically.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, that's right. Well, Professor Censor, thank you so much
for joining us. You're very welcome. We can turn this around,
turn it around absolutely.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Thank you very much for your time this morning.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
I do think that all that technology and cars and
you know we've got lights on our little light up
things on our side mirrors on the windscreen, what doesn't
mean I just look at that, see if that lights on.
I still check if there's a car in my blind
because I don't trust technology to that.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
Because we've had a lifetime of driving where we never
had that. So it's kind of instinctive to still look.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
When you learned with a column shift, that's exactly exactly.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
I'm finding it hard to get used to it.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
And we went to a roster station

Speaker 4 (07:33):
That's yes, I remember those forest Yes, absolutely, okay,