Let’s face it, no-one likes wearing a day-glo vest with reflective strips – but to ride without one, especially on gloomy nights, is risky.
But what if your normal everyday clothes could become completely reflective at the push of a button?
Enter Life Paint, a new safety spray developed by Volvo, which they say is washable, completely transparent and only shows up in the beam of headlights.
LifePaint is a unique reflective safety spray which claims Volvo is aimed at increasing the visibility and safety of cyclists, and other vulnerable road users. Invisible by daylight, it glows brightly in the glare of car headlights, making the invisible, visible at night.
Though designed for safer cycling, LifePaint can be applied to any fabric — clothes, shoes, pushchairs, children’s backpacks — even dog leads and collars. It is transparent, washes off and will not affect the colour or surface of your chosen material, lasting for approximately one week after application.
LifePaint is being trialed in six London and Kent-based cycle shops, including Peloton in Spitalfields, where cyclists can get one of 2000 cans being given away.
If LifePaint proves popular, the project will expand nationally and internationally.
Volvo has a ‘2020 vision’ that “by 2020, no person will be killed, or seriously injured, by a new Volvo.”
To that end the company has been working on new anti-collision technology, Intellisafe, a safety system which uses a combination of radar sensors and cameras to identify other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists and automatically brake if the driver fails to take the necessary action.
This works together with Volvo’s Active Bending Headlights, which adjust left to right according to the steering input to help see round corners better.
Adrian Walsh, Director of RoadSafe, said: “Driving a car is a complex and demanding task. In poor light conditions it becomes even harder, especially in towns and cities where the road is often shared with cyclists and pedestrians.
“This innovative technology will certainly help to make it a safer place and it is really encouraging to see a manufacturer reaching out to make pedestrians and cyclists less vulnerable.”
Nick Connor, Managing Director at Volvo Car UK, said: “Every year more than 19,000 cyclists are injured on the UK’s roads. At Volvo, we believe that the best way to survive a crash is not to crash, and are committed to making the roads a safer place by reducing the number of accidents.
“Volvo is a world-leader in safety technology, and we are proud to be extending our reach beyond just those driving our cars. By making cyclists increasingly visible as well as increasing the safety capabilities of our cars, we are doing our utmost to protect everyone on the road.”
Click here to find out where you can pick up your own can of Life Paint.
41 thoughts on “Paint yourself visible at night: Volvo develops new Life Paint for cyclists”
Bah. If this takes off, how
Bah. If this takes off, how long before we see police reports, news articles and insurance claim responses saying that “the pedestrian/cyclist was not covered in Life Paint”.
Cases like that of Michael Mason already show that even the police (let alone courts, particularly juries) are willing to let motorists off after injuring and killing people who walk and bike if there is a suggestion that the victims were not helmeted / wearing high vis. In Mr Mason’s case, the police deemed that the fact that he was using lights, and the motorist still hit him, wasn’t enough to show even careless driving.
This product, and Volvo’s statements, stinks of victim blaming. Not reflective enough? It’s like going out in too short a skirt, innit? Only got yourself to blame for what happens, love…
How about cagers just look where they’re going?
A far better idea is to use
A far better idea is to use it to paint messages on car bonnets…
“Put the f*cking phone away”
“Give cyclists room”… etc
Volvo looks for new ways of
Volvo looks for new ways of blaming the victims when their products are misused…
This is about making cycling look dangerous, rather than dealing with the issue of dangerous driving. Volvo is only interested in making money out selling motor vehicle, not in reducing or mitigation the damage they do.
A nice gesture I think, and
A nice gesture I think, and perhaps the technology will be improved upon to last more than one week. Personally I think children’s coats should legally have some reflective strips. It’s not victim blaming it’s helping and bringing something new to the table.
Volvo appear a responsible company with their 2020 vision and should be commended on their attitude, not berated.
I don’t have a problem with
I don’t have a problem with Volvo fitting additional safety systems to their vehicles, as long as they don’t rely on additional equipment that has to be carried by other parties (as was proposed in the case of some ‘safety’ cyclist detection systems – what happens to those cyclists who don’t carry the required transponders?).
However, relying on/requiring potential victims to take further steps is not okay. Do we require people to wear stab-proof vests in dodgy areas? No, the police should be out there catching the criminals, and the court system punishing them appropriately.
As for implementing an additional legal requirement re children’s coats – I hope you are not suggesting that the police should have powers to stop and fine children/parents if they are not shiny enough (as is currently the case with bike lights). This would be yet another example of picking on the victims, and ignoring those who are the cause of the danger.
In any case, I would have serious concerns that a legal requirement applied to manufacturers would have the some effect of lessening the legal protection afforded to those who are not, for whatever reason, wearing the ‘sanctioned’ equipment. How would this be justifiable?
And Adrian Walsh of RoadSafe’s comments stink too.
rowes wrote:A nice gesture I
I presume you have the same approach to sex crimes as you do to road safety, so I guess you want to make burkhas compulsory also?
rowes wrote:A nice gesture I
If they were serious they’d only make cars out of balsa wood, capable only of 10 mph, and with no driver protection except the legally required seatbelt. This is just more blame-shifting.
rowes wrote:A nice gesture I
New safer lorries delayed until 2022 – BBC News
“The delay until 2022 is, in part, the result of a compromise deal after manufacturers such as Sweden’s Volvo and France’s Renault said the introduction of new cab sizes should be delayed”
They don’t care about cyclists.
kie7077 wrote:
“The delay
Volvo trucks and Volvo cars are very different organisations.
johndonnelly wrote:kie7077
Volvo trucks and Volvo cars are very different organisations.— kie7077
Bah humbug, I am wrong, Volvo cars despite having the Volvo name and Volvo logo was owned by ford and sold to a Chinese firm.
Volvo cannot control the
Volvo cannot control the quality of their drivers and the courts don’t seem to care either. They are bringing ideas to the table. If it takes off and they give them away for free, I’d take it. Technology is improving all the time, use it. You wouldn’t cycle at night without lights, maybe in the future you wouldn’t cycle without a transponder?
Yes the police should deal with rubbish drivers, but why can we not use some of this technology as well.
Why can’t manufacturers make kids coats with reflective strips in them? Cycling or driving, the most common people to walk out in from of me without looking and 11-14 year olds (usually on their phone). Anything to help catch your eye is a good thing. I’m not saying arrest children.
If everyone was perfect, cars wouldn’t have seatbelts or airbags, but they’re now an accepted minimum. Lets use what is available to us rather than be a Luddite and fight it.
On the one hand, I personally
On the one hand, I personally quite like the aesthetics of reflective materials on bikes. I just like the way it looks.
But on the other hand, did someone not recently post a quote from the police report on the Michael Mason case, where the investigator discounted his lights, declaring that they would have been ‘lost in all the other lights’?
So, while it might be a rational decision for an individual to go this route, if everyone adopts it, won’t reflective material be ‘lost in all the other reflective material’ thus leaving cyclists and pedestrians collectively no safer than before?
I think whilst this is isn’t
I think whilst this is isn’t perfect you’ve got to welcome it as an innovative, fun, safe, functional product. That will doubtless play its part in keeping us all safer. Good job Volvo you’ve take responsibility for your vehicles. Those pesky swedes always seem to be one step ahead of everyone lol
FluffyKittenoff? What are
FluffyKittenoff? What are you on about? You disagree with an opinion and you start throwing comments like that about? Seriously learn to express you opinions inoffensively.
The rub with reflective items
The rub with reflective items is the assumption that drivers have their headlights on, and the lights are functioning properly. Where I live, drivers with headlights off during dark hours or malfunctioning lights are fairly common.
DavidC wrote:The rub with
Yep, always loads of drivers around with broken headlights, or with just sidelights on, or with their headlights on FULL BEAM at all times or with their fog lights on in perfect visibility or their fog lights off in the fog… Morons.
It just gives the bastards
It just gives the bastards something to aim for.
How about if you slow down
How about if you slow down and pay attention to the road ahead? Too difficult?
Even if all cyclists and
Even if all cyclists and pedestrians were to use this kind of product all that would result is that drivers would absorb any potential benefit by driving slightly faster, paying slightly less attention to the road and more to their phone/sat nav/cornflakes than they already do. Also anyone who hasn’t complied will be at more risk and will be blamed for any kind of ‘accident’. The problem will all of these so called ‘safety’ products is that they just shift responsibility away from the operators of the fast moving heavy driver cocoons onto the already most vulnerable road users. It’s just bogus. (I am not a non-driver btw, I have my own cocoon)
What would help safety more is by having some black clad ‘driver awareness ninjas’ armed with speed guns and night vision goggles who apply consequences* to drivers failing in their responsibility of care by not paying attention, being on the phone etc. It could be a TV show.
*I’m not sure what consequences would be appropriate – stingers and paint balls may be a little draconian, but it would need to be enough that you don’t want to be ninja’d and take care. Job done.
3cylinder wrote:Even if all
Half bricks might, just about, get the attention of some of the arseholes.
It may not have been the same
It may not have been the same brand, but I used this stuff on my bike and kit for the transcontinental last year, it really did a great job at adding an additional layer of visibility all over
I like the idea. However
I like the idea. However according to verge one spraying lasts about 10 days. Probably less if your commute has some off-road bits and you need to wash the bike after each ride. Would be interested if it was longer lasting . Do not understand the bashing. though I would not describe myself lit up as a Christmas tree, I make sure i am visible enough, to give myself a chance that the twats that text whilst driving might see me from a distance and avoid mowing me over from behind. When I drive I come across plenty of cyclists who do not give themselves that chance. Tempted to get a can to just give those a spray to help them survive.
Perfect for drawing rude
Perfect for drawing rude shapes on peoples backs that only show up on the road.
rowes wrote:FluffyKittenoff?
Do you not understand the concept of analogies? Its a pretty clear one.
Your suggestion was a mite offensive in the first place, carrying the whiff of victim-blaming as it did.
There seem to be some people
There seem to be some people on here who will find fault with anything. If it was announced that all cars, lorries etc were banned and only cyclists could use the roads they would still complain.
Davidn37 wrote:There seem to
I don’t think you’ll find many who want to ban cars, remember that car ownership is higher amongst adult cyclists than the general population.
It isn’t wrong to make yourself visible, it will help avoid getting hit but won’t stop it (there are plenty of people on here who can tell you of collisions in broad daylight or when in full. Christmas tree mode) because the problem this is helping is drivers not paying attention to the road, and the real solution is not to just paint some things brighter (what happens to the risk for anything else? The old boy cycling to church, the kid who left her coat at school, Dogs, horses, the driver who broke down and is walking down the road to get a can of fuel. If hit is it their fault? Could that collision have been avoided by driving slower with more attention?).
The problem is the people with the most responsibility for road safety (drivers) have the least consequences for an accident, and therefore the risks are not perceived. I’m not saying that drivers are intentionally reckless or uncaring monsters (I’m not), but everytime someone sends a text while driving they have subconsciously weighed up their benefit from that text versus the cost in terms of the chance and consequences of having an accident or getting caught (all low, to them). They’re “still paying attention” (but less so), they don’t want to have an accident and the probability is still small, maybe instead of 1in a million, it’s 1 in 100,000. But every day millions of drivers are making these decisions and similar ones about looking carefully at junctions and sticking to speed limits versus getting to work on time, and that ‘accident’ happens to someone. We can’t expect people to do any different without some real efforts to change fundamental behaviour.
Painting things is just fluffing round the edges, and gives people a chance to say they are doing something to ‘improve road safety’ when it’s really barely a bandaid for a broken leg.
http://www.bennetts.co.uk/mis
http://www.bennetts.co.uk/misc/latest-news/2009/bikers-say-no-to-volvo/#.VRcbOGdybIU
[[[[[ Let us spray? Er, no,
[[[[[ Let us spray? Er, no, not until drivers, b4 every trip, spray their eyes with Optrex….and remove all the in-car toys and gadgets contributing to some of the 19,000 collisions cyclists currently endure. But hey, why stop at spraying ourselves? How about attaching flags to our helmets, to flap in the breeze, three feet up! Yes, and a (compulsory) V.w.d.,–vocal warning device–on the ‘bars, repeating over & over, “Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!” at 50 decibels? The words “done up” and “Christmas tree” occur to one, innit.
P.R.
It’s a shame it washes off
It’s a shame it washes off after a week – it would be good to spray the bike and forget it. But since the objective is profit as well as safety, the manufacturer has to ensure repeat purchase…
It washes off… so, does it
It washes off… so, does it bio-degrade or does it add more crap to land and sea, poisoning everything?
kie7077 wrote:It washes
I asked this elsewhere, and no one seemed to know. Rather worrying.
Great idea. I would
Great idea. I would definitely use it.
I’m all for anything that makes us that little bit safer.
Volvo’s 2020 vision should be
Volvo’s 2020 vision should be enshrined in EU law. Make the car manufacturer jointly liable for each and every KSI involving their vehicles and watch the uncrashable cars roll of the production lines.
Initialised wrote:Volvo’s
That’s a mighty big brush you’re using. What happens when that law is rolled out to all other vehicle manufacturers, including bikes?
I applaud Volvo for the work they are doing in this area, and whilst I agree that the onus shouldn’t be on the cyclist to not get hit, it doesn’t hurt to stack the odds in our favour 😉
When you mention Volvo and
When you mention Volvo and Renault trucks in the same comment you should know that they are the same company. The truck division are differently owned to the car divisions and Volvo trucks bought Renault trucks.
Volvo cars is owned by the Chinese, trucks are not.
I went and had a look at the
I went and had a look at the LifePaint web site. At the bottom of the page it says “in association with Albedo100”.
I went to their web site and found that they offer a permanent spray product, suitable (they claim) for bikes, tyres, bike helmets, fence posts etc.
It’s not invisible like their clothing range, but might be of interest to some.
(£18 for 200ml +p&p)
neildmoss wrote:I went and
[[[[[ £18…?? For 3 or 4 quid there’s reflective tape. Stick it where you want it (ooh er, matron!), and you will light up like a beacon.
Good concept, but doesn’t
Good concept, but doesn’t last long and the effect makes the bike look cheap. The coating will just dissolve on a rainy day with your bike parked outside.
Eclipse cycles from Canada makes awesome single speed commuters with better reflective technology and is a lot brighter.
http://www.eclipsecycles.com
These guys also sport Brooks seats and handlebar wraps! Score!
siulongbau wrote:Good
Judging by the article, this looks to be more intended to be used on clothing – there is already a large range of retro/reflective or otherwise hi-visibility products for applying more permanently to bikes and other less floppy accessories.
Edit.or were you referring to the tape ? Theres a few examples of that which don’t look tatty and lay well if so.
Hi @Fukawitribe!
Yeah, I was
Hi @Fukawitribe!
Yeah, I was actually referring more to the bike.
Eclipse Cycles’ retro reflective coatings are apparently industrial strength so you don’t have to worry about potentially toxic drippage, re-coating or loss of brilliance.
I’ve seen some out here in Canada and come to realize that if you can see the bike moving in the dark, you will definitely notice the person riding it.
I guess it’s just excessive to spray your clothing AND the bike.
It definitely is a good idea for night joggers and people walking in the dark alone.
I’d like some if it were
I’d like some if it were permanent.
I see that there are three products Krylon K03150 Glowz Aerosol, Rust-Oleum 267026 Glow in The Dark Spray, and Reflect-All on amazon.com
Rust-Oleum AE0010005E8 is on amazon.co.uk
There are a variety of non clear luminous paints on aliexpress
http://tinyurl.com/luminousaliexpress
neildmoss has a good point though.
I ma stick some dollar store (100 yen shop) relfective rime tape to my frame.