Hi,
This I found on one of my many blogs that I'm reading:

""In London, cyclists are treated as second class citizens, a fact that inventor Michael Chen intends to remedy. For the whole of the cycling species, he has developed a terrific concept; the Reactiv Cycling Jacket, with integrated indicators and deceleration/acceleration warning lights. Hit the jump to see a video of it in action.

The jacket has three main light output sources; one on either arm acting as indicators and one large light on the back that is controlled by means of an accelerometer. Where accelerating the light on the back turns green, when decelerating the light turns red. The indicators are controlled by a tilt switching mechanism; simply raising the arm in the direction intended to turn activates the respective indicator.""


Check out a DEMO at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZvSdq6GYsY&eurl=


Interesting concept that might need a little bit of more work before I buy one, but the accelerometer is a cool feature



//arcspin

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a climbers delight...SCOTT ADDICT Ltd
http://arcspin.wordpress.com/my-bike/

Camp Mallorca
http://www.campmallorca.se

I read "reactive", and I hoped it was something like reactive armor on tanks... milliseconds before a car hits you, explosive charges detonate outward stopping the car before impact - and as a bonus inflects massive damage on any pimped-out SUVs! Now there's perfection!

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Self-Proclaimed Resident Master Fattie - Vicious DC Slither

cycling is not a high risk sport at all, in fact its a quite healthy passtime (and fun too). Dressing up like a jerk with blinkenlights as if i was a truck hauling hazardous load is not exactly an option, if you ask me.
If someone has some energy to put into improving cyclists safety, kick your authorities to implement some of the concepts that are well known to work, foremostly those that make a cyclist an even member in traffic.

watching the vid, there are some othwer reasons to be against it:
- a green light causes any motorist to accelerate
- raising my right arm like that will cause false suspicions about my political orientaton and might even brung me in jail )

ps: topic moved to "cycle chat" as i suspect that moster isnt lightweight, too

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Snowman and Strong Walker
Scott Sc
my old stuff
my new stuff

Cyclist's rights and respect are unlikely to be gained by a lightshow on a jacket.

Policeman: "Why did you hit him?"
Driver: "I had a green light."

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Equality for Cranks.

I don't know if it's realavant but here in the US there are laws about what color of lights you can have on the back and front of your vehicle. Turn signals on the front and front marker lights must be yellow/amber and brake lights/tail lights must be red. Rear turn signals must be either red or amber......

....at any rate green lights on the rear are not permitted. I think the guy that came up with this idea needs to check these sorts of laws.

My dad built a car hauling trailer and put red marker lights all around it (He liked the pretty red lights). When he took it to the highway patrol station to have it inspected they made him change out the maker lights forward of the trailor axle to yellow/amber.

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This board and the world in general would be a much nicer place if everyone could just take themselves a little less seriously.

May be not, but cycling in London (or other large UK citys) is high risk. A lot of cyclists I know won't cycle into large towns because many motor vehicle drivers don't care about cyclists and would be happier seeing them banned off the road.



It is also true of the UK however I 'believe' that these laws don't apply to bicycle clothing. I know that sounds stupid but as an example, in the UK, if I remember rightly, it's illegal to have a flashing red light on the back of your bike, but legal to have one mounted to your jacket

Blame the courts

I'll tell you now that I would like to have that for the Moto...

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charles@pezcyclingnews.com

i don't know about cycling in London, but i cycled in several other major cities. I think cycling in any major city is something that seems intimidating at first, rather than really dangerous. Looking at the casualty figures of the UK published by the department of transport, i see that the number of severely injured or killed cyclists has dropped significantly ofer the past few years, with the number of people cycling having increased at the same time. This trend has also been seen in other countries. So what makes cycling safer? getting more people to use the bike is the answer. The more prsent the cyclists are in daily traffic, the more the rest of the people on the roads will be aware of them. Gear like this jacket communicates "hey cycling is so dangerous you have to make a christmas tree outa yourself" and is more likely to stop people wanting to use the bicycle.
The clothes you wear make little differerence, the way you behave on the bike makes a big one.

Martin

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Snowman and Strong Walker
Scott Sc
my old stuff
my new stuff

Just a correction. Thanks to the Cycling Touring Club, red LED flashing lights are legal as rear lights on bikes in the UK. The government recognised (unlike many other European states) that having a flashing red light on the back of your bike makes you safer than having no light. A solid light is always best, but with the LED lights flashing, many people were attracted to them (flashing is cooler than solid I suppose).

I commuted in London for 2 years, right into the centre of the city. It was more dangerous than anywhere else I have ridden, but also great fun as a result. In the winter I would use 1 solid red LED rear, and one flashing on the bike, and one flashing on the back of my helmet. If you are in that sort of situation, use the canals in the winter. No one else does, and this makes them a great route in. Get GOOD lights though. It is no fun if you go in the drink.

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http://worksrider.wordpress.com/

Speaking from experience..

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www.theroadcyclist.com

Nope. I used to have 40 watts of halogen front lights. Came close a few times, because I used to TT it!

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http://worksrider.wordpress.com/

Yes, I completely agree. I wasn't defending the jacket, as I certainly wouldn't wear one but I still think cycling is a lot more dangerous in towns and cities than people make out. Statistics might say that cycling related severe injuries may have decreased, but may be that's because more cyclists are stayng away from 'danger areas'? If only we had a lot more cycle lanes.....



I stand corrected This is quite a recent thing though isn't it. For a lot of years what I said was true. So would a green light be legal on the back?

Same statistics say number of cyclists has increased, that is a well known trend: the more cyclists you have, the safer it is for the individual.
Its a learning process on both sides, cyclists have to find out what to do and what not to do in traffic, and other participants have to get used to the cyclists.
Oh, and cycle lanes are not exactly helpful, most cycling organisations in countries with more history in cycling commuting fight the mandatory bike lane usage laws. Cycle lanes in fact are dangerous because they take the cyclist out of sight (and out of the mind) of the car drivers, thus crating daangerous surprise encounters on crossings and intersections. Cyclists using bike lanes have a 3-9x higher risk of getting involved in an accident.
Bike lanes have been invented in favor of "uninterupted" car traffic, not with cyclists safety in mind.

M.

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Snowman and Strong Walker
Scott Sc
my old stuff
my new stuff

I'm with you there, in the UK cycle lanes tend to be the product of local councils meeting a target to put in hard engineering to supposedly cater for cyclists. The outcome is lack of consultation with what cyclists actually want, and a situation that is entirely geared around the protection of motorists, NOT cyclists. Usually this involves a splash of green paint and an inappropriate piece of engineering followed by every other motorist bellowing at you to "get off the road and onto the cycle path", in spite of it being full of old dears pushing their 3speed bikes with the shopping on, mums with push chairs and kids farting around on their 'heelies'. Not the safest place to be doing over 30kph.

Same goes for things like guard rails at pedestrian crossings and junctions, they often block the 'desire line' of those wanting to cross the road in order to speed up the journey for the motorist. It's almost like the local government would rather you to drive than walk or cycle anywhere.

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www.theroadcyclist.com

spot on steve!!
tikka

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