As a bicyclist, I've been interested in laser projections since this back in 2009: http://bikeportland.org/2009/01/...
LaserLight looks interesting, but with two challenges:
1) They project in front of the bicyclist, while most danger normally comes from overtaking traffic.
2) Competitors like LightLane have suffered from generally dim lasers that aren't very visible.
@rstephens I was going off my intuition from riding, but it looks like I'm wrong: http://www.wright.edu/~jeffrey.h...
TL;DR: Different studies report widely different findings, but generally agree that crossing and turning movements cause more accidents than overtaking.
@natedesmond Overtaking traffic is a problem, I've noticed drivers don't cut back in front until they've over taken the laser projection. In fact that light was designed as part of Emily's university project to tackle three specific cycling dangers; pedestrians crossing between parked cars, the blind spot and vehicles coming out of a junction.
Dim lasers can be an issue, the green laser we use is very close to the wavelength of light that the human eye is most sensitive to. This means that the laser image is more noticeable than if it were in another colour. You can see some photos here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/s...
@machinehuman Drivers often complain about lights being too bright in a city. I don't think a higher lumen value means you're necessarily more visible. Too many people are using very high powered lights (meant for night riding on trails) in cities which can be too glaring for drivers and other riders.
Hey guys, thanks for your interest in our Laserlight!
@natedesmond your rethink is right! The inspiration for the Laserlight came from the statistic that "79% of cyclists are hit when they are travelling straight ahead and another vehicle manoeuvres into them." - this covers sadly the most common cause of cyclist fatality (and often talked about) 'blind spot incident', with a (typically large) vehicle travelling in the same direction of a bike turns across it. But also the second most common cause of fatality - a vehicle pulling out of a side junction into the path of an oncoming cyclist, again travelling 'straight ahead'.
The reason this happens is interesting - I was working with a driving psychologist, Dr Graham Hole (of Sussex University - analyses accidents for a living!), while researching the problem. He explained that a driver coming to a junction takes a split second to scan for a threat... They inherently look for a tonne of metal, a threat to themselves. They don't look on the other side of the road, or in the sky. They take their split second to look *in the middle* of the oncoming lane. A cyclist can be RIGHT THERE, but tucked that little bit further round (especially sadly women, who research shows, adopt a more defensive riding position on the road) but the driver just doesn't turn their head that little bit further round and misses the cyclist. Resulting in a 'SMIDSY' - "Sorry Mate, I Didn't See You!"
The Laserlight aims to make a cyclists' footprint on the road bigger and go some way to improve a cyclists' visibility - with a warning sign travelling ahead of you on the road, it increases the chances of you being seen when you're otherwise invisible.
Link to the original 79% stat (page 29): http://www.trl.co.uk/online_stor...
Report
$200 US, woof. Then again, I guess you can't put a price on safety
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