On a bike, you tend to run over whatever it is you're looking at. If I came around a corner and saw that, my natural reaction would be, "Holy $&#@! That's a gnarly pothole!" And I would need to consciously avert my eyes away, or I'd be virtually guaranteed to hit it. Especially if there was a car approaching from behind.
You gotta look at the path where you want to go, not the path where you DON'T wanna go.