When they are looking for cars, they tend not to see motorcycles, even when they are in plain view.
OTOH, motorcycles can fit into blind spots on cars that other cars cannot, often into blind spots that typically go unnoticed.
"Believe it or not, some drivers point their side mirrors inward — so they see only their own cars — instead of rotating them outward" [2].
Blind spots are self-induced. I've never driven a consumer vehicle where I couldn't adjust my mirrors properly to get rid of blindspots.
[0] https://www.defensivedriving.com/safe-driver-resources/how-t...
[1] https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15131074/how-to-adjus...
[2] https://www.aarp.org/auto/driver-safety/car-mirrors-blind-sp...
> Notably, people tend to see what they expect to see.
> When they are looking for cars, they tend not to see motorcycles, even when they are in plain view.
Watch/take this Selective Attention test (1 min 22 sec):