Laser bike lights that tackle problem of driver blind spot rolled out on 250 Boris bikes

Blaze Laserlight shines a bicycle symbol onto the road surface
Lighting up the road: The gadget in action
Blaze

Flash new bike lights that beam a laser onto the road surface to make riders more visible are being trialled on 250 Boris bikes across the capital.

The lights project a bicycle logo six metres in front of the rider to help alert drivers to any cyclists who might be riding in their blind spot.

They were designed by Emily Brooke, founder of Bethnal Green start-up Blaze.

Chief operating officer Phil Ellis said: “Personal safety is still the biggest barrier to cycling. We designed the Blaze Laserlight to actively reduce collisions and near misses by giving cyclists a larger footprint on the road, and helping them be seen in situations where they are otherwise invisible.”

Trial: The Blaze Laserlight built into the frame of a Santander 'Boris bike' cycle Blaze
Blaze

Transport for London said if the trial was a success there were plans to retrofit the kit into all 11,500 hire bikes on the capital’s streets.

Santander Cycles’ general manager James Mead said: “As part of our wider work to make London's roads safer for cyclists, we have worked closely with Serco and Santander to undertake a small trial of Blaze Laserlights, which alert drivers to an approaching cyclist in the blind spot at night time.

“This is the first time it has been built directly into the frame of a hire bike. We will be robustly testing both the technology, its effectiveness and people’s opinions of it during the trial and hope to make a further update later this year.”

Tests carried out by TfL and the Transport Research Laboratory showed the gadget made cyclists 96 per cent visible to buses and was more effective than LED lights.

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