London cabbie invents cyclist indicators after too many 'near misses'

A London cab driver it attempting to crowd fund production of a wrist-worn light-up indicator for cyclists to wear.

Gary Thatcher, the creator of Signum, says he hopes it might help reduce collisions.

The indicator lights are triggered when cyclists squeeze a trigger in the hand they are raising.

Mr Thatcher, trained as an electrical engineer, said Signum helps solves a “gap in communication” between bikes and cars.

The lights, which are expected to retail at £35 a pair, use high power LED to match the light from a vehicle indicator.

Thatcher is developing prototypes himself, which he will then launch in a Kickstarter campaign later this month.

He told the Evening Standard: “I’ve had a couple of near misses, and in winter 2014 I was travelling down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, in the late evening.

“Because it was dark the cyclist in front of me had lights on the bike and did everything he should have done when he wanted to manoeuvre around a parked vehicle.

“He put his arm up but because it was dark and he was wearing dark clothes I didn’t see his arm go up.

“I had to brake quite hard and then had a bit of a lightbulb moment, thinking there needs to be something to address the gap in communication between cyclists and drivers.

“I’m hoping Signum will give people an incentive to indicate because you don’t always get enough time. I see there’s a gap in communication and the way I’ve designed it is to be as effective during the day as in the dark.”

Various forms of cyclist indicators have been created over the years, including these Scute Design Lumin8a indicating gloves reviewed by road.cc back in 2013.

Our tester commented that they were “Surprisingly competent gloves but the electronics preclude machine washing.”