Cyclist Awareness Test
See how easily a cyclist can be missed by a driver who is, technically, looking right at them.
History
This test sits in the same tradition as other road-safety selective-attention films, built specifically around drivers, following evidence that a meaningful share of car-cyclist collisions happen not because a driver failed to look, but because they looked without truly seeing — their attention absorbed by another task at exactly the wrong moment.
The setup
You're given a counting or spotting task set inside ordinary road footage — filmed from a driver's point of view — while a cyclist enters the frame at exactly the point most drivers would otherwise check. The footage looks unremarkable at first glance, which is the point.
What it helps you notice
It's designed to show how easy it is to technically look at a road and still miss a cyclist, and to encourage more deliberate scanning habits rather than passive glancing. Questions it tends to raise:
- Did you register the cyclist's approach, or only notice them at the last moment?
- What was competing for your attention at that moment?
- Would a deliberate second glance have changed the outcome?