Tips for increasing observation/vision

[Slink_Pink]

I feel that at times my observation drops to the road ahead, immediate surroundings and mirrors. I feel that I don't always spend enough time looking to each side of the road on which I'm traveling, particularly on motorway/dual-carriageway sections. As such I don't always pick up, for example, vehicles moving toward my road with a view to join as early as I could.

Can anyone suggest tips or techniques to improve this? I do use commentary on occasion but it's difficult to keep a flow on roads with which I am very familiar or relatively featureless motorway/DCs.

[7db]

Hard to say without being in the car and seeing what works for you.

It might be the space which you have protected yourself with on the road is a touch small, which will draw your vision back into the bubble to see if it is still safe. There's no way you can scan the horizon if you are worried about traffic that might be entering your safety zone.

It might also be that you are not effectively using the information that you're picking up on from long-range scans effectively so there is no payoff for the scan so you stop doing it.

Try gazing at the most distant point you can see and see what it is that draws your vision back.

[ROG]

your personality can also have a bearing

Extroverts tend to get bored easily on m'way type roads so the concentration drops

[exportmanuk]

your personality can also have a bearing

Extroverts tend to get bored easily on m'way type roads so the concentration drops

Thats everyone on here then

[Horse]

relatively featureless motorway/DCs.

Really?

Start listing everything there is to see even on an even m-way, that'll keep you busy for a while, and not just look and identify, think about implications too.

For example, how close is the nearest emergency phone? Are there the large blue marker posts? If you break down, or there's an emergency could you give an accurate location by mobile phone?

How well surfaced is it? is there an HGV tramway in lane 1 which could increase the chance of aquaplaning in the wet?

How good are the lane markings? If you have a lane deviation system it might not work.

Are there marker studs, useful at night and in fog etc.?

What type of VMS is in place? Do you know the types and the way they work?

Yup, empty boring places, these motorways

[Ralge]

On-ramps, lay-by's, services, slow-moving vehicles etc. all suggest a need to plan for an escape route, a lane change.
On occasions, you might choose to take the escape route before seeing anything that makes the move necessary IF no threats are presented from the sides or rear. Tactical acceleration/deceleration and positioning keeps us out of others' blind spots, retains space or vision ahead and avoids side-by-side positioning.
In short, in multi-lane situations width of observations and proactive positioning is every bit as important as depth of observations so these roads are not that boring, really, and there's plenty to talk about!

[ScoobyChris]

Yup, empty boring places, these motorways

Sound pretty boring to me

Chris

[Horse]

Yup, empty boring places, these motorways

Sound pretty boring to me

Chris

I spend a fair chunk of my working life on the hard shoulder of motorways.

Trust me, an 'empty, boring, place' is not always the case

[WhoseGeneration]

Can anyone suggest tips or techniques to improve this? I do use commentary on occasion but it's difficult to keep a flow on roads with which I am very familiar or relatively featureless motorway/DCs.

A vivid imagination of the negative kind helps.
So, constant observation of all ahead, behind and to the sides, the "what ifs", the "body language" of the vehicles, that fast moving one in the outside lane approaching the other vehicles in that lane, the flatbed in lane one with a load that looks a bit insecure , the driver ahead in your lane more interested in talking to their passenger than observing the road. The list is endless.
That's without also trying to consider the opposing carriageway to anticipate a crossover situation.
Each drive is a new drive, even on totally familiar roads, in fact it's a greater challenge in some ways.
Brain in appropriate gear, not just vehicle.

[Octy_Ross]

I find playing the 'spot the sign' game or some such can work.

Especially if you have a passenger and there's beer or something valuable at stake...

Every time you get a sign before them, they owe you a beer...every time they see one before you, you owe them beer.

Obviously beer should not be consumed until after the driving is finished