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I found the part in the video about cyclists being in the blind spot of a turning bus very worrying. That's not the way to cycle!

I cycle around London all the time and the one thing you have to do is be aware of the situation as a driver sees it. I've seen too many accidents or close shaves where I think to myself "You could have anticipated that situation". e.g. cyclist racing up the inside of a stationary line of traffic slams into the side of a car turning right through the line of traffic. Easy to anticipate that as you approach the junction there might be danger.

Equally, I drive through London as well and am very aware that cyclists are hard to see. But I have noticed that cyclists wearing fluorescent jackets are way more visible (day and night) than others. I can't see this particular invention being a big help to me. If I'm turning left I'm looking in the mirror and then doing the last check over the shoulder for anything. A cyclist in a fluorescent jacket is going to be visible to me in the mirror or through the window on the final check because of their height. And if I'm pulling out a fluorescent jacket also helps because I am looking at around body height (at cars and pedestrians).

Hi guys, Emily here. Some very interesting points here and I'm sorry if points have been miscommunicated. Please can I try and set the record straight on a few of them.

Re. The brightness of the light: At the minute you are right, BLAZE is not a 'to see' super high-wattage light for use off-road, it is a 'to be seen' urban light for use on city streets. We are looking at developing a brighter for people commuting out of the city, but this will require a far larger battery.

Re. Dangers of riding into the blind spot: We completely understand and agree that by far the best way to stay safe as a cyclist is to not put yourself in vulnerable positions and to not take risks, for example undertaking large vehicles. That being said, in London as a cyclist, you will certainly and unfortunately find yourself in the blind spot of large vehicles when cycling in a cycle lane that allows you to travel faster than the traffic, for example. Or when a vehicle overtakes you and then later slows, they don’t know where you are behind them. I have been speaking to bus and HGV drivers, the police and driving psychologists on this scarily frequent scenario. A bus driver explained that you often have cyclists on their inside due to no dangerous riding on their part. Even once they’ve seen them, it is hard to keep track of them around the vehicle. Even with the extra mirrors (typically 6) it takes a few seconds to check them all properly, which is plenty of time to miss a cyclist in one of them. I believe someone who is interested in BLAZE, a product with such a strong message of cyclist safety and improving visibility, will not be the kind of person who puts themselves in a risky riding position intentionally. That being said, we will be sending out a message with the product to encourage people to ride safely and if anything be MORE aware of blind spots and other vehicles limited visibility.

Re. Seeing the projection: BLAZE is designed purely to increase your chances of being seen, and in time. Above and beyond a normal light. It increases a cyclist’s otherwise small footprint and gives them a presence AHEAD of their current position, warning road users ahead that they’re coming through. And pedestrians! So many times I’ve had someone step out through slow moving traffic into my path, probably not hearing my approach.

Re. The projection distance, 4 -6m is what we recommend as that’s just over half a bus’ length, so if you were alongside it, in its blind spot, the projection would appear out ahead of their cab. Their windscreens are completely vertical, so the road immediately in front of them can be seen clearly. You are of course right that a car can see less of the road immediately around them and if you worry more about cars pulling out in front of you, you may prefer to fix it projecting further. I agree people won’t be looking at the road for danger signs, but they can’t help seeing a flashing green symbol. It sounds daft, but it’s attached to a moving vehicle and once you see it it’s intuitive that it’s attached to a bicycle.

Re. Classifying the laser. It is the entire product that is classified, not the module, which is more powerful that 1mW. The lens is fixed across the aperture of the module and disperses the light to make it safe to human eyes.

Re. Legality of using the green light as a bike’s headlight. Just to clarify it is a white bike light first and foremost but also has the green laser as an added feature. Thank you so much for everyone’s engagement and comments! If anyone has any further questions I’m happy to answer them.

I am begging you to reconsider this project. At best it is useless, at worst it will get people killed. In a very literal sense you have fatally misunderstood how LGVs and cyclists interact, because you have failed to take into account the relative motion of the vehicles.

If a stationary cyclist is waiting at the nearside of a stationary LGV, then your device may potentially signal to the driver that there is a cyclist in his blind spot; Of course, this is a situation which no cyclist should ever allow to occur and is a mistake that kills several women every year in London. Encouraging people to take such a position would be a disastrous own-goal.

If a cyclist is undertaking an LGV, then the symbol will precede them into the driver's blind spot, only emerging when it is already too late. Cyclists usually travel at between two and eight metres per second. The reaction time of a healthy driver to a visual stimulus is between 0.7 and two seconds. If your device allows a cyclist to be noticed by an LGV driver in this scenario, they will be noticed too late for the driver to abort their manoeuvre and prevent the right-of-way violation.

Speak to an expert on the subject and model the scenario - the mathematics is quite straightforward. I'm sorry to shit on your dreams, but it's human lives we're dealing with.

I find the use of gender here interesting and illuminating: "[this] is a mistake that kills several women every year in London".

80% of cycling casualties are men.

http://www.rospa.com/roadsafety/adviceandinformation/cycling...

The relative speed of a cyclist to a bus is rarely 8 m/s in built-up areas in my experience, particularly not in circumstances where a bike has found its way inadvertently into the blind spot. But then I'm not an expert and won't claim to be.

Not only is it stupid. It's completely illegal. They claim it will be a Class II laser, but no laser at 1mW can sufficiently light up a road like this. They're obviously hoping that with the lens in place their power density will be decreased to allow them to become Class II.

It will probably not, these devices are dangerous and almost certainly prohibited.

I would argue that drivers are looking at the ground, at what their headlamps illuminate. Illuminating the ground ahead of you means that drivers can see you before you're actually in front of them. A light that simply dazzles head on doesn't do anything more than a reflector. You can call the idea "stupid" all you want, but unless you have a study, then your argument is no more compelling than that of Effective Cycling's John Forester[1].

That said, I don't think a weird green symbol on the ground is a particularly great solution either. A headlamp with a decent spread aimed slightly at the ground ahead should function just fine as both ground and elevated illumination.

[1] Forester's book argues for headlamps aimed slightly at the road ahead as well as bicycle-as-car riding.

I very much agree with your last statement; if you are undertaking a bus or other large vehicle you probably shouldn't be cycling at all. Of course there are exceptions to this.

Although lighting is a very important factor of being safe when cycling on the road, being aware of traffic and the law of the road is far more beneficial. I have cycled around London for years, usually with no lights at all and perhaps it is luck, but I have never had an accident.

You need a strong position in the road and decisive action that allows other road users to see your intentions - just act as if you were a car.

"just act as if you were a car"

This.

Sometimes complicated by laws that require you to cycle on cycleways that are almost always more dangerous than cycling on the street (since drivers rarely look for cyclists if they are a few meters away from the road). At least in Germany.

If you are cycling without lights, I would say you shouldn't be cycling at all.

This is true especially in the autumn/winter. Unfortunately my self confidence on the road usually get's the best of me.

As much as I hate to say it, maybe there should be some sort of guidelines/laws to cycling on the road; I know there are plenty of drivers that would want this and I have seen some awful cyclists on the road who are not only a danger to themselves, but also to others.

maybe there should be some sort of guidelines/laws to cycling on the road

Such as the highway code?

https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82/overview-59-t...

...there are written laws about cycling on the road. They're mostly ignored. In most states in the US, cyclists are required to follow all rules that an auto is required to follow.

Although lighting is a very important factor of being safe when cycling on the road, being aware of traffic and the law of the road is far more beneficial.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of going around without lights on, if you do get involved in an accident, you won't have a leg to stand on. So no bike replacement, and no payout for missing teeth.

When you think about the impact hand injuries can have on your career - let alone anything more serious - frankly I'd recommend lighting up for that reason alone.

But please, do wear lights - you'll only be making life easier for everyone else around you.

I think harmful is a better way to describe this. I hope it doesn't get popular enough that someone has to write an article entitled Symbol Projecting Bicycle Lights Considered Harmful.

That said, the people doing the work seem bright. I just hope their next project is something they could use jsmin for without violating its license.