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news
Blaze Laserlight and London busVideo: 9-piece brass band hidden in bus blind spot
While HGVs usually get the attention for their enormous blind spots, which are implicated in a disproportionate number of pedestrian and cycling deaths and injuries, it’s easy to forget how little a bus driver can see.
Blaze, the company behind Blaze Laserlight – the front bike lights that project the image of a bike on the road in front of the rider, which is being rolled out across London’s hire bikes – managed to hide the nine-piece Hackney Colliery Band in the blind spot of a London bus.
Video: Blaze Laserlight-Santander Cycles spooky (launch) movie
In a short clip, a number of people are put in the driver’s seat, and none could see any of the band from the cab, though they could hear them. They could see the Blaze Laserlights attached to band members' bikes.
Blaze Blind Spot Gig with Hackney Colliery Band from Blaze on Vimeo.
Ahead of the rollout of the lasers to the 11,000 bikes in the Santander Cycles fleet, an independent study was commissioned by Transport for London and Serco. The tests, conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory on a range of surfaces and around a variety of vehicles, found Blaze Laserlights increased bus drivers’ maximum visibility at night from 72.4 per cent with a single LED light, to 96.2 per cent with the Blaze Laserlight.
Visibility for van drivers improved from 65% to 97%, 78% to 83% for a tipper lorry driver, and 56% to 66% for a car driver.
Blaze co-founder Emily Brooke says: "The purpose of the video is twofold, firstly to highlight how big the blind-spot of these large vehicles are - you can fit an entire brass band in one! And secondly to show how a Laserlight makes a cyclist more visible to drivers ahead. It gives them a bigger footprint on the road and can make them seen when otherwise hidden."
Blaze also revealed its lights are now being tested on New York's Citi Bikes.
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12 comments
What this video says to me is: "Buy a Blaze Lasersquirrell, filter up the inside of a bus, you'll be fine".
is that actually the blind spot of the bus that riders would be in though? From where they're positioned, and if the bus was in the bus lane, then the blind spot is on the pavement
but I've sat in the Crossrail wagons a few times and done their blindspot test, now that truly is shocking. My boy did it, and now will never creep past any vehicle on the inside.
I think it's good though that they're being trialed on the Boris bikes - that actually gives you a controlled study group to see if there is any impact
Actually, visibility from the driver's seat of most modern vehicles is a major issue. Modern cars for example are built to much stricter safety requirements than models from the past. Some time ago I rented a classic Porsche and was astounded at how good the all-round visibility was, because its roof pillars were so narrow. Our modern(ish) family car has much thicker roof pillars and even looking to the front, there are blind spots. These are far worse to the rear. You do have to wonder why more car manufacturers aren't fitting video equipment and proximity detectors these days to all models, as the technology is now comparatively cheap and would add little to the overall price.
Most of us adult cyclists are also drivers. And when we're behind the wheel of a car, we tend to know to look out for cyclists. The same holds true for motorcyclists. But we do have to be aware that the majority of drivers are not cyclists (or motorcyclists), and simply don't think the same way because they do not have the same breadth of experience from being a different category of road user when using two wheels.
Making a cycling portion of the driving test compulsory for all, except disabled, would go some way to address this issue.
It's amazing how more nine-piece brass bands are not being killed.
It's even more shocking than that, if you extend the cone they're all sat in you could theoretically fit the entire population of the world in it. I need a new light.
You could get another bus between the bus and the band!
Stop trying to fob us off with "Elastoplast" solouions to the problem. A flashy light / Hi-Viz / glow in the dark paint / helmets are not fixes, they are jangled in front of us like keys to a baby, for distractoinary purposes only.
BUILD SOME DECENT BIKES LANES - Not just the east west / north south stuff. EVERYWHERE.
Get the motorists without a proper licence / with out MOT or insurance off the roads, crush their cars when found.
Kill someone with you car because you're a dumb arse and you wanted to text your mate about walking the dog - BANNED FOR LIFE.
Amen to that.
Yeah Blaze, fix vehicle design, build new infrastructure and sort out the law! Oh wait. You have nothing to do with any of those. In that case carry on trying to make people a little bit safer until the bigger issues are solved, eh?
Whether or not these should be needed, or even if you think they aren't effective, they are not The Man trying to "fob us off". All of your points are valid, in the right forum, but I don't think thats for a product which probably has some basis of good intention.
This!
Yes this may be an elastoplast, and yes it may be being installed on the "Boris Bikes" by an authority that has the power to install the infrastructure but it can't do it over night!
While they debate about putting in the infrastructure (or not) these are an excellent "elastoplast" for the interim and much needed!
The construction of every part of a modern vehicle is tested in terms of safety so that injuries are minimised, all at great cost, and yet there is no requirement to fit CCTV.
Video says more about the poor visbility of buses than it does to encourage me to buy a daft light.