To See or Not to See

I was driving on the boulevard, wide with its tree-lined median, nearing the stop.  A lawncare truck approached on the cross street from the right as I thought about who would arrive at the sign first.  It's a typical driving process gauging speed, distance, and acceleration.   I glanced to the left and stopped a split second before the truck found the mark.  Having the right of way, I started forward.  A silver gray SUV emerged, like a ghost, at my left in the intersection.  The vehicle front was at the far edge of the median, slowly shortening the distance between me and it.  I had not seen it.  I hit the brakes, but it was there, moving at my left, and I was in the way, blocking the intersection.  The only thing to do was to go as I  pressed down on the accelerator.

For those who think the road is littered with bad drivers, I can't say for sure, but considering the thousands of vehicles filling the lanes in a city on any given day, it only takes a few okay drivers to do something stupid for the other people on the road to encounter an irritating or reckless situation.  I know I've been stupid a few times and that moment at the stop sign stands firmly in my mind.  I didn't see the car on the left.  I glanced, but did not see.  I made a mistake that could have been extremely dangerous for everyone, my wife, me, and the other driver.  In a high speed collision, my car could have even been pushed into the lawncare truck as its driver helplessly looked on.

Why?  I ask myself.  I was focused on the truck and determining who would arrive at the stop sign first that I didn't examine thoroughly my surroundings.  Using Feuerstein's Cognitive Functions as a guide, I can easily conclude that my input phase failed me.  I glanced quickly and did not see and this was a moment of deficient thinking by me.

I was impulsive.  I looked but didn't search.  This is a problem at that particular location because the median makes the boulevard and the intersection wide.  It's not a normal spot where the stop sign is directly to the left.  It's a distance away, so it's much easier to spot traffic approaching from the right, but not the other side.  You have to LOOK to the left.  Coupled with the SUV's color being silver gray and easy to blend into the road surface in the morning light, my quick glance did not see it.  

The whole event is funny (in a dangerously sad and comical way), because I'm a trained FIE instructor and the first two listed cognitive functions are Clear Perception and Systematic Exploration, and I failed to apply them in the situation.  I also probably failed in the Need for Completeness in Data Gathering.  My lack of thought is troubling because the moment could have been tragic.  No one wants to be in a car collision.  This one in particular would have happened on my side putting me at extra risk.  Though with the distance of the intersection, our two vehicles never grew that close to one another, so I received a lesson about perception without having to pay a high cost.

Since the incident, I have been paying extra attention at that intersection, particularly the stop at the far side.  I also have been focusing more at all stops.  Practice doesn't make perfect, but it certainly helps make sure that the right neurons are firing at the right time.   Not seeing cars on the road is a dangerous proposition.

The incident also has been a reminder of how we never escape using our brains and how we need our thought processes to be working well.  Use of the cognitive functions is needed by us our entire lives, and thought is not simply a matter of reasoning from A to B or tabulating the numbers.  It includes being sure your data, your input, is good.  In this case, being sure that I am seeing every vehicle on the road is important.  Being lackadaisical in my scan of my surroundings is not something I want to repeat in the near or distant future.  When driving, I need to look systematically and see completely and clearly.  I don't want any more large ghosts appearing on the road.