Bicycle Laser

[yuandrew]

When cycling at night, even with a red light on the rear of the bicycle, it is still hard for drivers to see a cyclist as he/she occupies the edge of a road.

A while back, I used to lurk on a site called "Halfbakery" where members came up with some crazy inventions. One was titled "Bicycle Butt Laser" and the concept was a laser mounted on the rear of the saddle that would project downwards and sideways into the traffic lane. It rotates so it would 'draw' a circle on the road.

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Bicycle_20Butt_20Laser

illustration:
http://www.geocities.com/aotechdesign/bike_laser.html

So while browsing again, I came across another concept called "Light Lane" which also uses a laser mounted on the bicycle. Instead of drawing a circle though, it would project a virtual "bike lane" around the bike itself. There's a picture but no actual working prototypes have been made yet.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/16/light-lane-concept-would-protect-cyclists-bring-tron-to-life

http://dustbowl.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/lightlane_copyright.jpg

Any opinions on either or both ideas ?

 

[likeguymontag]

When cycling at night, even with a red light on the rear of the bicycle, it is still hard for drivers to see a cyclist as he/she occupies the edge of a road. [...]
Any opinions on either or both ideas ?

If this is the case, I think your blinkies aren't bright enough or don't cover a big enough angle. Anyway, when I'm cycling at night, I'm never concerned about getting rear-ended. I figure if someone's coming straight at me than they can see my blinky plus I'm in their headlights. It's people turning across me and hitting me from the side that I'm concerned about.

IMO, almost all rear blinkies are badly designed, and are set up to produce a narrow beam of bright light, while I think they should be producing a very wide beam of fairly even light.

I don't think the laser thing is a very productive idea. If someone isn't paying attention and doesn't see you, they're going to hit you whether you're using a laser to demarcate your space or not. Plus it would have to be a stupidly-powerful laser to draw out a pattern like that and be bright enough to be visible. It might keep someone from crowding you, but I don't believe that such drivers are the real threats anyway.

 

[greenLED]

What you need is a SuperFlash LED blinker. Best bike blinker *ever*.

 

[MonkRX]

Black asphalt will gobble the laser's red light all up

And by the time drivers are close enough to make use of the virtual-laser-lane, the headlights would have made the lane disappear (if they were even visible on the blacktop to begin with).

Awesome concept, but not exactly possible with poorly reflecting black asphalt roads.