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Brainy Bike Lights use science to make drivers more aware

Written by Saris Mercanti
11 Comments
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Brainy Bike LightRather than playing the lumen game, the Brainy Bike front and rear lights use symbols for fast recognition from drivers.

The concept was developed and tested by the Department of Experimental Psychology at the prestigious University of Oxford. Why do they think it’s better than your average light?

Brainy Bike LightAccording to inventor and Behavioral Change Scientist Crawford Hollingworth, the brain detects and interpret the symbols more quickly than strobing LEDs. So this design, which makes use of sharply diffused light, can be seen up to 20 M, and can cause drivers to slow down much faster than for your standard light.

The pair  have a clip for easy mounting and have several programmable settings. Battery life ranges from 50 hours + for the front light, and 200+ for the rear. The set retails for £45.00 and are only available here.

 

 
Saris Mercanti
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NASH
NASH
10 years ago

Sorry lab rats this is a fail. If what you say is true then all warning lights would be symbol based long ago, the reason they aren’t is that they would be distracting and actually increase risk of accident. Symbols are all fine and dandy on stationary objects (traffic lights) not moving vehicles.

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brider
brider
10 years ago

20m away? Um… I want those vehicles to see me LONG before they’re that close. So maybe if those symbols were a good 18″ square they’d do some good. But then again, I can light myself up with reflective gear and provide a pretty much life-sized cyclist symbol, recognizable from a decent distance…

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Sigmond Froome
Sigmond Froome
10 years ago

What the geniueses at the “prestigious” UOO have forgotten from Psych 101 is that any devise that gives the user an additional sense of security encourages more of that activity & defeats its benefit..ie. ride more at night.

Think higher mileage cars, the user drives more, lower calorie food eat more, & most importantly condoms encourage more RISKY SEX!!!

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Chris S.
Chris S.
10 years ago

I have to agree with both comments from NASH and brider. While I agree that the idea of a globally recognized symbol is an excellent idea, the appearance of a large boxy shape on a bicycle is not, to my eye, attractive in any way. Perhaps a re-think of the container shape might garner more support with its subsequent presentation here on Bike Rumor.

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Ultraclyde
Ultraclyde
10 years ago

They are assuming that drivers prefer NOT to hit cyclists. I’m not sure that’s the case. I’m fairly sure I’d rather a driver saw my lights and thought “What the F**K IS THAT?!! A UFO ?!!” than “damn, another biker getting in my way…”

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Greg
Greg
10 years ago

In the Bay Area they call that a target.

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bsimon
bsimon
10 years ago

“So this design, which makes use of sharply diffused light, can be seen up to 20 M, and can cause drivers to slow down much faster than for your standard light.”

A light that can be seen only from 20m away isn’t much of a safety light at all. Perhaps they meant it can be identified as a bike symbol at 20m (I’m skeptical), beyond which its just another light. So what’s the point?

(the point is the sometimes considerable distance between theory & reality)

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Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Just to put a science/math spin on this. If a person in car 20m sees a bike with this light stopped 20m ahead and the driver applies a deceleration of 1g without any time passing before that braking starts, it’ll take the driver 20.9m to stop. If the same driver applies a 1.5g deceleration, that gives the driver 0.43 seconds to see the rider and react. Given all that, I’m onboard with all the others wanting something that offers better than 20m recognition.

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Psi Squared
Psi Squared
10 years ago

Note that the above assumed the driver was driving at 35mph.

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Champs
Champs
10 years ago

zohurap: critical commenters are only slightly more predictable than accurate. History is on their side.

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Ape
Ape
10 years ago

The light may be seen up to 20m but, you’ll have to be within 20 cm to see the symbol.
My money is on “drivers won’t slow down for this”.

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