By Steven Symes 
Tow truck drivers deal with hazards all the time, and one of them is getting hit by cars thanks to target fixation. They’re not the only ones, with cops, firefighters, construction workers, and others who work on the side of roads having to deal with this dangerous phenomenon.
Ram truck smashes up parked cars in a neighborhood, then drives off.
If you don’t know, target fixation happens when a driver focuses so much on an object they want to avoid, they end up steering right into it. You could say it’s the ultimate irony of driving and it’s something far too few drivers on the road understand or know how to avoid.
What happens often is drivers see the flashing lights on a cop car, fire truck, or in this case a tow truck. Their attention focused on the lights, which are supposed to warn drivers to steer clear, they instead go right towards them.
In this example recorded by a traffic camera in Seattle, Washington the tow truck driver is hooking up a Tesla on the side of the road. As he’s standing between the EV and his truck, a Toyota RAV4 sideswipes the Tesla, then hits the back corner of the tow truck.
The tow truck driver puts his hand out instinctively, pushing off the moving vehicle before it comes to a full stop. He was lucky only his hand contacted it. Immediately, liquid comes pouring out from under the crumped crossover. We’d guess that’s coolant from the front end getting obliterated.
Instead of just berating the driver, the tow truck operator immediately tries checking on the person. While it likely was target fixation that led to the collision, there is a possibility the driver suffered a medical episode.
The key to avoiding target fixation is to first move over one lane for vehicles stopped on the side of the road, if possible. In his case it wasn’t, so the thing to do is not stare at the hazard on the side of the street. Instead, practice the old saying racecar drivers use: see everything but look at nothing.
You should be constantly scanning the road in front of you, as well as to the sides and behind, but you should never stare at anything or you might miss some other potential danger, or steer right into the thing you’re staring at. We wish more people knew this.
Image via Heartland Reporter/YouTube
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