Instant Reaction

    In the first month of my college year, I realized the necessity of riding a bicycle. I need a bicycle to go to classes, and I also ride it outside of school for dinner. Once in a while, I ran into bicycle accidents. Therefore, I decided to observe the riders’ reactions the moment before they are about to crash into another bicycle. I was interested in the instant reactions because I have faced similar incidents before. I was curious about how people react in such a short time when having to decide whether to stop their bicycles or to turn to another direction to avoid crashing. A phenomenon that also attracted me was that bike-riders often become upset mostly toward the other rider in an accident. I want to figure out why this emotion is stirred up.

    Through a sequence of logical inferring, I concluded two scenarios happening when bike-riders are facing a probable bicycle crash. One scenario is that riders are astounded such that their minds go blank. They grip the handhold tightly, and directly strike into the coming bicycle. The other is that various options for avoiding crashing pop up in riders’ mind. In this case, the riders have to address with many information such as the relative speed and the distance between two bikes. They, meanwhile, should opt for a resolution in a flash. Consequently, they end up doing nothing and collide, or they just turn away the handhold to avert direct impact. Both scenarios lead to turbulence in emotion. Rage replaces astonishment as bike-riders revert themselves.

Riders will intuitively defend themselves, and defense turns out to be physical reactions, such as rash behaviors and cursing.

    The hardest parts of my observation are how to observe and how to pinpoint the observation. To have a good start, I decided to risk my life to conduct an experimental crash. I rode my bicycle on Zhou Shan road, trying to distract myself from riding. The first observation was completed when I rode down from the small bridge. I almost struck the oncoming bicycle which I can’t see before I ride to the top of bridge. After I stopped I recalled what I experienced just then. My observation started when I rode down the bridge fast and saw the coming bike. I was shocked for almost one second, but in a flicker of time later lots of information of how to avoid crashing clogged my brain. I pulled the brake, and fortunately, our bicycles hit only slightly.

    After this incident, I recorded my observation. I could not be sure whether this is the only reaction people have or is there any possibility. Therefore, I did another experiment on the other day. I was riding on Zhou Shan road again after the class dismissed. I kept in mind of my experiment, so I rode in the inverse direction. Soon, I crashed my bicycle into another cyclist. Neither of us pulled the brake, which was intentional and which I could tell from his face that he wasn’t. I fell on the ground, and his front tire was over my bike. He broke out some cursing and seemed resentful at me. After he rearranged himself, he left.

    The two scenarios which I demonstrated at the beginning are just the simplified versions of the complex human behavior. However, my two experiments help me look further into this topic---instant reactions. People behave in sub conscience in time of emergency; the reactions can tell how a person feels and experiences, such as shouting out when one has to release stress. These reactions also indicate that physical motion and emotion are linked up. This explains why people easily get angry or irrational when an accident happens. Because at the moment riders see a bicycle or other vehicles rushing toward them, they are jolted and petrified. After the crash or an close escape, adrenalin and emotion burst out at the same time that the riders flare up. This is a chemical reaction inside one’s body that gives the person strength and stimuli to respond to an accident quickly. They also want to defend themselves over their rights on an accident. On this point, the riders often become more aggressive and agitated.

    Through my observation, I summarized that the possibility of crashing bicycles is substantial that in either scenarios both riders get hurt. Human performs poorly on reacting to emergencies. Be prepared for any accident that might take on whether which vehicles one’s taking. This observation will go on whenever there are cars or bicycles on the road.