Bicycle Safety

andraosdesign

Hello everyone, I'm looking for those of you who are both cyclists and drivers. I'm currently looking at developing at bicycle safety aid which makes drivers "look in their bloody mirrors". As cyclists, you have probably all been in a situation where a car has made a manoeuvre that puts you in danger because they didn't know you were there. Similar to the AA's own project #thinkbikes (look it up if you like) it will alert drivers that there is a cyclist approaching by lighting up lights on the drivers wing mirror, making them look.
Features:
Driver is alerted that there is a cyclist behind them
Lights will change depending on the cyclists position - If they are in the cars blindspot or if they are in the visible areas of the mirrors
Driver is alerted to which side the cyclist is on because only one mirror will light up

As the cyclist can also see the mirrors, they will be able to see if they are cycling in a blind spot or in the correct position.

Drivers will be more aware of the cyclists around them and cyclists will know to stick where they can be seen.

What do you, as both a driver and cyclist think?

I know its hard to picture but as I am in the early stages of design i have no models to show.

I would love any feedback such as:
would a driver buy it?
Would it distract a driver?
would it mean drivers rely completely on the device and actually become more of a threat?

Criticisms, additions, support all welcome. This is a student, final project but if all goes well, in a year or so you may see these in AA and Halfords. Thanks

darkhairedlord

andraosdesign wrote:

Hello everyone, I'm looking for those of you who are both cyclists and drivers. I'm currently looking at developing at bicycle safety aid which makes drivers "look in their bloody mirrors". As cyclists, you have probably all been in a situation where a car has made a manoeuvre that puts you in danger because they didn't know you were there. Similar to the AA's own project #thinkbikes (look it up if you like) it will alert drivers that there is a cyclist approaching by lighting up lights on the drivers wing mirror, making them look.
Features:
Driver is alerted that there is a cyclist behind them
Lights will change depending on the cyclists position - If they are in the cars blindspot or if they are in the visible areas of the mirrors
Driver is alerted to which side the cyclist is on because only one mirror will light up

As the cyclist can also see the mirrors, they will be able to see if they are cycling in a blind spot or in the correct position.

Drivers will be more aware of the cyclists around them and cyclists will know to stick where they can be seen.

What do you, as both a driver and cyclist think?

I know its hard to picture but as I am in the early stages of design i have no models to show.

I would love any feedback such as:
would a driver buy it?
Would it distract a driver?
would it mean drivers rely completely on the device and actually become more of a threat?

Criticisms, additions, support all welcome. This is a student, final project but if all goes well, in a year or so you may see these in AA and Halfords. Thanks

I'd like them to look out of the windscreen first and foremost. How about a device that turns a mobile phone into a taser when the engine is turned on, so it give the user a blast of 10kV if they try to pick it up. Or an eye tracker that checks where the driver is looking during the journey, switches the engine off and locks door; imprisoning them for 40days if they look at their phone.

darkhairedlord

there are no blind spots, only blind drivers.

Bobbinogs

Manc33, is that you??

darkhairedlord

Bobbinogs wrote:

Manc33, is that you??

I think he's still busy trying to sort his chainline out!

lakesluddite

Nice idea, but...The trouble is with innovations like this is that they are only likely to be bought/installed by the very people who don't particularly need them, ie considerate, competent drivers.
It's the tosspots who think they have a divine right to be ahead of everyone else that need them but are too arrogant to consider the affront to their driving 'skills' to get one.
If it were installed as standard on new cars, then great, but the trickle through would take decades, and I doubt that this type of thing would be made compulsary by law.

debeli

I am a keen driver and cyclist with quite a lot of experience of HGVs and motorcycles (but in the distant past). I am not keen on this sort of technology and have doubts about both the utility and marketability of such a concept.

Rather like ABS, there is a danger that it will make motorists casual about applying the brakes deep into a bend or on poor surfaces. Then they drive a car without ABS.... Oops!

I've even been caught out (to my great shame) by using our second family car, which lacks a proximity beeper. We have an odd driveway that can be fun to reverse up - and in the newer car I sometimes use the bleeps in the dark. Not a good idea in a car which doesn't bleep.

There is also the issue of the system failing or (perhaps worse) failing intermittently. People may stop bothering to look because the car will alert them.

I see no alternative to good training, frequent publicity campaigns and the production of cars with good all-round visibility and adequate mirrors.

There are blind spots - in pretty much every vehicle - but there are ways to anticipate and take a peek in time. Lots of peeks.

I am dubious about technology which might appear to offer an excuse for not looking.

grenw

They are already available just not specifically aimed at spotting bikes. My last car had them as an option (which I didn't opt for) - lights appear in the wing mirrors if another car is in your blind spot.

de_sisti

Can the OP show us what sh/e has on paper at the moment? If there's not even a rudimentary sketch
then I would consider this a troll.

andraosdesign

Thank you very much, mostly great feedback Personally the point about an excuse for not looking is heavily weighted and will need to be considered. As for requests to what i have on paper you can see the idea below

kingrollo

Very interesting...anything that potentially save lives is worth investigating. However does it take away the need for the driver to be alert at all times ?

A device I would like would be something that disables mobile phones whilst in a car.....fraught with problems but if such a device was fitted to new cars this would have a significant impact on accidents ( IMO of course )

darkhairedlord

andraosdesign wrote:

Thank you very much, mostly great feedback Personally the point about an excuse for not looking is heavily weighted and will need to be considered. As for requests to what i have on paper you can see the idea below

How about: "driver looks over his sodding shoulder before pulling out"?

darkhairedlord

Good luck with seeing anything in the mirrors with the light glowing through a wet misty window.

andraosdesign

Actually I have recently worked on something that does just that. It converts the users phone into a HUD and allows music and other features to be controlled via bluetooth. All while the users phone is locked away for the journey.


Now we are looking at giving cyclists more confidence on the road, while all new tech for cars is great, cyclists want to take all the precaution that they can to ensure they are safe.
Again, thanks for all the responses.

navrig2

Part of the issue is modern cars are gradually becoming mobile Christmas trees.

My current has a light for:

usual engine issues
change gear up
change gear down
eco mode on
eco mode performance (rim light around speedo)
indicators working 1 speedo area
indicator working 2 (tip of "wing" mirror)
passenger airbag check
bluetooth connection
auto-dim rear view mirror on
headlights on
driving (front fog) lights
rear fog lights on
parking sensors on
traction control off
auto start/stop on
additionally the centre of the speedo offers me 4 (I think) screens of data - average mpg, cruise control on/off/speed, average speed etc etc.

I am sure I have missed a few and that ignores the heating/ventilation system and the stereo system.

I don't think we need more lights on a car, probably less actually.

andraosdesign

Thanks that really helps

darkhairedlord

andraosdesign wrote:

Actually I have recently worked on something that does just that. It converts the users phone into a HUD and allows music and other features to be controlled via bluetooth. All while the users phone is locked away for the journey.


Now we are looking at giving cyclists more confidence on the road, while all new tech for cars is great, cyclists want to take all the precaution that they can to ensure they are safe.
Again, thanks for all the responses.

Why do they need to control anything via bluetooth? why do they need a HUD? what do you thing anyone actually needs to be looking at other than outside? The safest car I ever owned was my morris 1000, it had no radio and nothing much else to "control"

andraosdesign

darkhairedlord wrote:

Why do they need to control anything via bluetooth? why do they need a HUD? what do you thing anyone actually needs to be looking at other than outside? The safest car I ever owned was my morris 1000, it had no radio and nothing much else to "control"

The reality of the situation is that people do use sat navs, people do listen to music while driving and as a result people fiddle with controls when driving. There's no way that is going to change and if anything it's going to get worse. The solution is to make things easier to control and less distracting, that's all.

schlepcycling

andraosdesign wrote:

darkhairedlord wrote:

Why do they need to control anything via bluetooth? why do they need a HUD? what do you thing anyone actually needs to be looking at other than outside? The safest car I ever owned was my morris 1000, it had no radio and nothing much else to "control"

The reality of the situation is that people do use sat navs, people do listen to music while driving and as a result people fiddle with controls when driving. There's no way that is going to change and if anything it's going to get worse. The solution is to make things easier to control and less distracting, that's all.

The problem is it relies on drivers choosing to use this or any other 'aid'. I'm constantly amazed at seeing drivers still using their phones handheld in their cars when there are so many ways to use a phone handsfree. It can be built into the car itself or the satnav can have a bluetooth connection or you can use a relatively cheap to buy bluetooth headset or even a lowly pair of headphones. It's not that there's a lack of options it's just that some people are too stupid/pigheaded/arrogant/lazy* *delete as appropriate to use them.
What we need to do is enforce the law and make it costly both in financial and penalty points terms to do. Because at the moment the chances of getting caught are almost nil.