A Thoughtful Trucker Tries to Design a Safer Bike Light - Core77
A Thoughtful Trucker Tries to Design a Safer Bike Light - Core77
Cyclists can be hard for motorists to see, particularly motorists in larger vehicles. British trucker Jay Singh observed this firsthand, having spent decades driving a hauling truck around the UK. Singh himself eventually took up cycling, and "after one too many close shaves while cycling in London ...
People always say cyclists need to be more afraid of cars, because in a collision, the car wins.
It doesn't have to be like that. We can _both_lose.
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13Let's put our collective energy into keeping trucks and cyclists in separate spaces, boom problem solved.
6Sure, but that's a long term project.
While that is happening, we can also take some small, cheap and fast steps to make biking safer.
Like better lighting.
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Insufficient or no bike lights are no main reason for crashes with bicycles. More than 80% of crashes happen in full daylight, about 10% of people ride with insufficient or no lights, that makes max 2% of crashes that happen due to insufficient lights, that is if the reason in these 2% was actually the insufficient lights and not something else. Numbers for Germany.
Maybe it's a nice light for some people, but I doubt this would have a significant effect on actual safety.
8I'm not sure if the thoughtful trucker has used a typical light designed for bikes, but they cast light in a much wider area than directly in front of them, and are considerably smaller/less expensive than this proposed design.
That said, this won't solve the "I didn't see you" problem, since it's rarely the fault of the cyclist when a driver is on their phone, fallen asleep, is under the influence, or sucks at driving. 🤷♂️
14This appears to be an advert dissed as an article. Also, I know my bike lights already emit light in all directions by making the shell transparent.
13The camera is a bonus IMHO. So many close calls of drivers texting, on the phone, not paying attention or just having the blank stare that I would like to save and share.
1Okay, I'll bite. What makes it appear as an advert disguised as an article? Pray do tell.
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Interesting idea but I'm not sure the benefit is worth the cost and the bulky gadget. Regular bike lights don't have such a narrow beam of light, unless by "regular" they mean the most laser-focused bike lights of the market. My two lights are pretty diffuse.
In what situations are said cyclists hard for motorists to see that a combination of normal bike light and high viz material won't work? Foggy day, cyclist and driver are perpendicular on an intersection? If it's foggy, the fog works as light diffuser. If it's not foggy, any piece of reflective material would do the trick... unless truckers are not turning on their headlights in total darkness, at which point normal bike lights are enough again.
Having spent that much time in a truck, he understands what makes cyclists difficult to see.
lol no, that's not how it works, there are professionals that dedicate their lives to studying vehicle lighting
7Interesting idea but I’m not sure the benefit is worth the cost and the bulky gadget.
Unfortunately the Video also misses examples of the bike at night from the side. There are a few shots in the dark, but mostly form near the front or back and in the city with surrounding light. I would like to see a comparison in a dark area with other regular lights, so the real difference can be seen.
Also battery life, according to kickstarter ist only over two hours.
As much as I like the idea, I miss some details to see how big the difference to other lights really is. Because to be fair, the diagram is just plain commercial.
1I think the truck driver is thinking about riders in blind spots and so trying to solve proximity visibility with ambient light.
3Blind spots are blind because there's no direct path from any part of the bike to the driver's eyes. If the design is specifically worried about being in a blind spot, ironically the better design is to concentrate the LED power with narrow beam of light so the bike can cast light further away outside the blindspot.
Anyway, being in a blindspot is dangerous even for cars that have those ridiculously overpowered bright headlamps. When a driver says the "cyclist came out of nowhere" it just means the driver was driving carelessly. More lamps won't solve that.
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I mean very fancy and sleek but this is also solvable with more LED lamps and for much less than $200.
5It's a design blog, they'll always opt for overly designed things.
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This seems like a neat light. I'm willing to invest in good lights, but I'm not willing to carry around such a bulky solution. My normal lights detach and I can throw them in a small pocket on a bag. These would take up the whole bag. I can see them being well suited to road cyclists who don't leave their bikes parked much. But for an urban commuter, id like a smaller option.
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