
Laser-made bike lane could save lives - julian37
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/cartech/lasermade-bike-lane-could-save-lives-20110615-1g2oi.html
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silvestrov
I'd be afraid that the laser light could damage children's eyes if they
happend to get in the way and look into the light.

Experience from Copenhagen shows that the best solution is to have the bike
path on the inside of the parked cars so the parked cars function as a buffer
against the moving cars.

Putting it on the inside makes it possible to make it a different level (like
the footpath) so the cars cannot go into the bike lane.

37% of people in Copenhagen bike to work, so they have a significant amount of
experience with bike paths:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDs83Ud6Zss&t=1m24s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDs83Ud6Zss&t=1m24s)

~~~
gst
My personal experience shows that it's best to have no bike paths at all. I
typically only use my bicycle as means of transportation here (in Vienna) and
the only accidents that I had so far were at locations where the bike path
crosses a street. This is also confirmed by statistics.

Compared to this, on streets I almost never have any risky situations - even
on busy multilane streets. Cars see you earlier, because you ride on the same
street as they do. You don't appear unexpected (for car drivers) because you
overtake on the left side like everyone else. The right of way is clear, as
there are no exceptions as in the case of bike paths.

In cities such as Copenhagen and Amsterdam bike paths have an advantage,
because you are faster (no traffic jams) and because car drivers expect
bicycles at crossings due to the high amount of bicycles. In cities such as
Vienna where the amount of cyclists is relatively low most car drivers don't
expect to encounter them - so even if you have the right of way on a bike path
they just ignore it.

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lutorm
I think you are fortunate to live in a place where bicycling is already a
mainstream means of transportation. However, in many places in the U.S.
(Massachusetts and New Jersey come to mind for me) it's not that drivers are
distracted, but rather that many do not believe that bicycles are a valid
means of transportation. If you are in the lane you will encounter real
hostility and agression. In these cases, I think something needs to be done to
reinforce to people that bicycles have just as much right to the roadway as
cars. I'm not sure bike lanes are the solution, but something needs to be done
to get the number of bicyclists up to a critical mass.

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timmaah
Up in Vermont it has really taken off in the past 10 years. And it is people
doing it for recreation, not for transportation.

The problem it seems to me is the size of the roads. Most of the time you can
not cleanly get around a biker without going into the oncoming lane. On a
50mph road with bikers going 20mph you constantly have to judge the speed of
oncoming traffic to see if you can safely pass or get hard on the brakes to
wait. This happens a lot and is annoying.

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lutorm
It's annoying for the driver. It's worse for the bicyclist who has to worry
about whether the driver have actually _seen_ him as he comes barreling up
from behind.

But yeah, it's true that whoever designed shoulder-less roads was completely
clueless to non-automobile transportation like biking, walking, or really even
scooters that can't keep up with traffic.

(Incidentally, the "coming up from behind" situation reminds me of one of my
biggest annoyances as a motorcycle rider: people who come barreling up behind
you when you are stopped at a light and then go hard on the brakes. They are
apparently clueless to the fact that many motorbikes are rear-ended at
stoplights because drivers fail to note the biker. The net effect is that you
need to keep staring at your rear view mirrors ready to take off to avoid
getting rear ended _in case_ they actually haven't seen you. Really, the light
is red. It won't hurt you to slow down gradually. So please everyone, don't do
this.)

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jrockway
_"Eighty per cent of cycle accidents occur when bicycles travel straight ahead
and a vehicle manoeuvres into them. The most common contributory factor is
'failed to look properly' on the part of a vehicle driver. The evidence shows
the bike simply is not seen on city streets," she said._

This can't be true. The statistics in the US say that this is 7% of accidents:

<http://www.johnforester.com/LAW/Bikeway%20Controversy.htm>

The reality is that riding on the sidewalk and turning from the wrong lanes
are the big cause of bicycle accidents. Being hit from behind is exceedingly
rare. Being doored is probably the main worry that a cyclist riding correctly
should have.

(Using the correct lane should be the secondary concern. Don't go straight
through an intersection from the right side of the right turn lane. You're
going to get hit by cars turning right.)

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pedalpete
A while ago I saw an image of a guy who had built a similar device which put a
laser 'bike lane' behind the bike, kind of a joke giving you a bike lane
wherever you go.

Putting it in front of the bike would seem like such a minor change, but puts
it from being a gimmick to a lifesaver.

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furyg3
I think it wasn't real (just a mockup):

<http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/02/lightlanes-lase/>

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lloeki
Even this device is a lifesafer, as it builds a very patterny visual metric of
the space occupied by the biker. And the human brain loves patterns. Therefore
a driver will have a very easy task at lining up his car with the biker and
safely overtaking him.

Combining both designs and tweaking the projected images and colors could be
an incredible step forward for bike safety.

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pspeter3
This could really save lives. I bike to work everyday and cars usually don't
recognize bikes as something that belongs on the road.

~~~
Goronmon
That's because bikers (even well behaved ones) are annoying to deal with. Even
if you are following all the rules, I still can have a hard time getting
around you if the street is busy. Pretty frustrating dealing with a bicyclist
climbing a hill at 5mph on a busy main road when you don't have quite enough
room to safely get around them.

That's not even counting the bicyclists who blow through stop lights, stop
signs, don't stop for pedestrians at crosswalks, ride on busy sidewalks.

In my honest opinion, I don't think bicycles belong on roads (at least in city
areas).

~~~
asynchronous13
I'm a very data driven person. Here's an experiment I did that ended up
changing some of my driving habits.

The important data to me is my total driving time from A to B. So, I measured
my total driving time to and from work. I also noted the number of bicycles I
had to pass on that journey. If the cyclists were slowing down my total
commute time, then there should be a trend in average driving times with 0, 1,
or 2 cyclists encountered. No such correlation exists in my data. On average,
red-lights and other traffic have more impact on my commute time than do
delays caused by cyclists.

My conclusion: my emotional response to a cyclist was not proportional to any
measurable delay. Now I wait calmly for a safe place to pass, secure in the
knowledge that, on average, it doesn't delay me at all.

(obviously your commute time could be affected differently than mine, but I
encourage you to look at the actual delay, and see if your frustration is
warranted)

~~~
Goronmon
The slowdown effect is lower on the list of concerns than the knowledge that a
slight mistake on the part of either parties probably results in the death or
serious injury of the cyclist. I just find driving around cyclists stressful.

The closest comparison I can imagine would be if there were no sidewalks in
cities and you had to deal with pedestrians on the side of every road as you
were driving.

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nkassis
Wow this is a great idea, I often see drivers trying to make left turns in my
city and not see bikers who are coming next to them in the bike lane (they
have a 2 way protected bike lane.) It can be tricky sometimes for the driver
but this would give them more information.

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arethuza
There is a special place in hell awaiting the drivers who overtake cyclists
then do a sharp left turn (I'm in the UK so this means they are cutting in
front of you).

I used to do a fairly reasonable commute every day through the center of
Edinburgh and the problem of car drivers overtaking and turning left was
probably the single biggest danger I had.

~~~
minikomi
Here in Tokyo it's Taxi drivers, with automatic doors.

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zwieback
How's that, can you explain?

~~~
minikomi
They can open the rear doors remotely, and often do while handling money or
writing something.

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sien
Sure, sure, it's a great idea to shine a laser on the ground for safety.

Until all the cats in the neighbourhood start chasing you....

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Luyt
This maybe works well when there's only one bicyclist, but what if there's a
whole group, with half of them using these laser projectors? There would be a
huge green mess on the road, not very practical.

Besides that, governments will never allow random citizens to make their own
street marks. It interferes with traffic regulations and laws.

~~~
minikomi
A very noticeable green mess

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delinka
Exactly. It's not intended to be a "street mark" but an attention-getter.
Bright green mess on the road? Where's that coming from? Yikes! A flock of
bikes! (I did not intend to rhyme ... :-/ )

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skimbrel
This is a great idea. If I biked more regularly I'd want one of these.

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webmonkeyuk
Looks great, until you ride up a hill and project the pattern into the sky!

This device will be particularly cool in foggy conditions or in smoke.

~~~
juiceandjuice
What grade did you get in geometry?

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mhashim
In downtown where cars are bumper to bumper, the location of the green laser
would require a sharp downward angle to see it; which begs the question, does
this just add another spot that drivers need to check now?

I can see it working in more open roads where this would be easy to see up
ahead, but when space gets narrow, the visibility angle becomes tough.

Valiant effort though.

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hcho
I wonder how much of bicycle accidents are caused by frustration of drivers
rather than not being able to notice the rider. This product might be trying
to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

~~~
Tichy
How does frustration of drivers cause accidents? They run over a cyclist to
let off steam?

~~~
lloeki
They're frustrated by a (relatively to them) slow cyclist that they can't
overtake right now, so as soon as an opportunity comes in, they take their
chance in a dangerous way.

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mkr-hn
Just yesterday I was behind a slow-moving cyclist on a winding road with no
passing spots. Three cars behind me flew out into one of the many blind
corners to pass with no way to be sure it was safe.

~~~
Tichy
That sums up nicely why I hate cars and driving. I just don't trust normal
people with heavy killing machines under their asses.

