Comments on: More on the “LightLane” Concept

By: Patent Baristas » Patent Law: Global Economic Slowdown Edition

Patent Baristas » Patent Law: Global Economic Slowdown Edition — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:59:42 +0000

[...] concerns, distance, and smelliness(?) were the key barriers. Of course, you could always try creating your own bike lane. (via World of Work) Posted January 27th, 2009 by Stephen Albainy-Jenei in IP Management, Legal [...]

By: Om cykelbanor « MiljöBloggAktuellt

Om cykelbanor « MiljöBloggAktuellt — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 09:48:22 +0000

[...] safety into their own hands, rather than leaving it to the city.” Bloggen Bike Commuters har haft kontakt med killarna som kommit på idén. Och visst, kommentarstrådarna innehåller en hel del kritiska [...]

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 07:50:41 +0000

I take issue with the premise that several of their friend were hit by the car and the conclusion that they must be hit from behind. Was that really true? According to studies quoted in John Forrester’s Effective Cyclist that only 9.5% of all car-bike collisions are from motorist overtaking cyclist. While I don’t doubt that this technology will help, but unsafe cycling behavior will not. I would encourage everyone to seek out good bicycle safety education class!

By: Lock Master (Jeff)

Lock Master (Jeff) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:03:45 +0000

What about “object fixation”? Drivers might be subconsciously ( or even consciously) drawn toward the bike. I wonder if they would make a version w/ a skull and crossbones?

By: Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:07:23 +0000

Mike, the designers had given that aspect some consideration:
“After experimenting with physical ways of increasing the perceived size of the bicycle, we quickly realized all of these would compromise the rider’s safety by increasing the probability of accidental clipping.”

As a tester of the safety flag, I cannot tell you the number of times I clipped things with it. Hell, I broke my “move the f— over” yardstick on the second or third trip around town! And, towing a trailer, I miscalculated the wideness of it plenty of times and hit it against objects. What I’m saying is that “growing” the physical size or perception of the bike is not for the faint-hearted.

A breakaway or bendable arm that has a light like a Flash Flag is certainly worth doing, but you’ve got to admit that there’s a certain elegance in projecting a virtual marker rather than a physical barrier!

@Gabriel — thanks, man. I can’t rest until I’ve wrung the last drop of information out of an idea…and we sure didn’t want to rehash what the other 200 covering sites had to offer.

By: Mike Myers

Mike Myers — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:35:28 +0000

Nice tech, but nothing creates space for a cyclist like a physical object. I use a Flash Flag. This site has reviewed another side-mounted flag. And Jack has a three foot stake that says “Move the F— Over”. All of those are more useful than this laser bike lane thing. And a whole lot cheaper.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:10:10 +0000

Thanks for chasing this one down, Jack! It pays to know a good librarian…

By: Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:35:19 +0000

Matt, that’s exactly why we hadn’t covered the concept until now…every other site just rehashed the press release in one form or another, so I figured that contacting the designer could get me some more goodies (like if there was actually a prototype or just a fancy Photoshopped picture).

Luckily, the designer was VERY gracious and provided the above without any arm-twisting on my part!

You raise some excellent points — as for the first, the same could be said of extremely bright or wildly flashing rear blinkies or other bike-lighting devices…the same phenomenon that causes motorists to crash into law enforcment vehicles with their lightbars on (appropriately termed “the moth effect”). In practice, though, this is a somewhat minor concern.

As for the second point, you may really be onto something there…I think that in order for this concept to work in real life, it shouldn’t project too far behind (20 feet? 30?) the cyclist in order to minimize those kinds of confusions. Or perhaps some sort of handlebar-mounted switch that creates a turn signal or “lane shift” effect to let an overtaking motorist know more about what is going on?

Let’s hope the designers glean some useful information out of these and the many other comments posted elsewhere and make a device like this happen!

By: Bike Jax

Bike Jax — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:26:11 +0000

Hi Jack and thanks for taking the time to find out more about this. I have reserved any comments or even posting on Bike Jax I had until I had more information about the concept and product.

I’m still torn on a thumbs up or down on this idea. Part of me likes it and would like to see it on the market.

But then I have these scenarios that I play out in my head from a drivers point of view. I see the potential for drivers to be distracted by the laser imprinted bike lanes and not notice what else is going on around them. And for anyone that has been riding a bike more than a week, knows you tend to steer where you look. Which also holds true for drivers of motor vehicles and could potentially put riders at more risk than if they rode without the laser bike lane.

I also wonder what will happen when a rider projecting the bike lane changes lanes? Will this confuse drivers on a dark road that are accustomed to bike lanes being on the right side of the roadway now pulling alongside of a cyclist and noticing that they are now on the left of a bike lane? Or how will drivers react when they see this projected bike lane suddenly move from right to left as a cyclist changes lanes to make a left hand turn?

By: Foraker

Foraker — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:01:30 +0000

That raises an interesting interim possibility for further investigation, at least with respect to night-time driving. What about mounting a flashlight to shine down on the roadway to the left of the cyclist — would cars be more likely to give the cyclist more room when passing? Someone try it and report back!