BLAZE is a conceptual gadget in the making, designed to warn motorists that a cyclist is riding alongside them or coming up on their blind side. Mounted to the bike’s handlebars, the small device projects a bright green image of a bicycle ahead of you, somewhat similar to the markings on a bike lane. The system was created by Emily Brooke, a design student at the University of Brighton in England, with the input of road safety experts, the Brighton & Hove City Council, the Brighton & Hove Bus Company, and driving psychologists. BLAZE has been hailed as a potential lifesaver and won Brooke a place at Babson College in the U.S. as a part of their entrepreneurship program, where she will continue developing the product.
It’s a really simple idea that seems to work especially well in low light conditions and traffic heavy times like rush hour.
According to Brooke’s research into bike accidents with vehicles, 80 percent of the incidents occur when cyclists are travelling straight ahead and another vehicle moves into the bike lane without noticing the cyclist.
As Brooke herself puts it, “Even when lit up like a Christmas tree a bicycle in a bus’s blind-spot is still invisible. With BLAZE, you see the bike before the cyclist and I believe this could really make a difference in the key scenarios threatening cyclists’ lives on the roads.”