Brady Clark and Mykle Hansen created a vest that lets bicycle riders show off how fast they're pedaling:
How does the vest work?
In a nutshell, it uses a sensor on your wheel to send a signal to a microcontroller that then turns the numbers on and off on the vest.Why did you invent this?
Have you ever outpaced cars and been honked at? Had a car almost wipe you out while making a turn? The Speed Vest was invented because we were curious to know if putting more information in front of drivers might change their awareness of bicyclists. That, and we suspect a lot of people don’t realize that an average person can bike 10-15 mph (15-25 km/h).
Link (with a video clip of the vest in action)
1. They run red lights and stop signs all the time
2. They ride in the middle of the road instead of their lane
3. They will swerve into traffic at the exact time I am attempting to pass them
4. They are somehow under the impression that, because these are rural roads, that no one has to use them to...oh...get to work or something. So we have all friggin' day to follow behind them riding six across (which is illegal here).
A vest with a speedometer in it is not going to change my "awareness of bicyclists". Though a "portable hole" would help.
I'd also make it more obvious that it was the speed on your back. When I initially saw that, I thought that it was an automatically updating position jersy for the tour de france etc.
Statistics consistently show that cyclists are in general more law-abiding than car drivers.
(Not to mention that 30,000+ people die every year in car accidents in the U.S., making it the leading killer of young people, that car pollution is a huge contributor to global warming, that fuel taxes and car fees don't begin to cover the costs associated with driving, forcing the other tax-payers to subsidize drivers, that every person on a bicycle makes your life easier as a car driver - giving you more room on the road, and more parking spaces)
So there.
It would be a cool thing to add at night to become more noticable to drivers. I think I might get tickets with it though, as I usually go over the speedlimit in town.
I always stop at signs and lights though, the guys that dont are just asking to get hit, and usually they are not wearing helmets too.
While I totally disagree with the premise of the vest, I've gotta stick up for bicyclists here. Yeah, I am one, but I also know the ones you're talking about, and- at least where I come from- the demographic of bike riders who run red lights and stop signs is very small and composed largely of idiot 13 year olds who don't understand the concept of mortality.
This depends on the country you s[eaking of, i live in the Netherlands, and most bikers seem to think that red lights are for cars only. (or some weird 18+ stuff).
I was almost in 3 collisions my last time biking home from work.
All three occasions were women.
Two were on their cell phones.
I'm not drawing any conclusions, just presenting the facts.
(with a jovial grain of salt)
I know what you mean. Most of the worst drivers that I see are women, usually on cell phones. Although one recently was driving with a yellow Labrador on her lap.
Before anyone gets mad at me for being sexist, know that I am a woman.
Oh yeah, and when I used to ride my bicycle, I was one of the courteous riders who also used hand signals.