Fear for your safety every time you ride your bicycle at night? You’re not alone. Bike lanes are practical necessities that, unfortunately, still isn’t considered that way by the majority of lawmakers responsible for keeping the roads safe (probably because they cost between $5,000 to $50,000 per mile to install). If they’re not going to give you bike lanes in your city anytime soon, LightLane has a solution: make your own.
The device is a flashing LED tail lamp that attaches to most any type of seatpost to help improve your visibility in the road. Armed with downward-pointing lasers, it draws bright, night-visible lines on either side of the road with your bike in the middle, creating a temporary bicycle lane that should encourage cars to maintain a little more distance when they pass you by.
Created by Alex Tee and Evan Gant of Altitude, the idea behind LightLane is to create a visible barrier that other road vehicles can avoid, so you don’t end up getting sideswiped by less-capable drivers cursed with lamentable approximation skills. In that respect, it should prove considerably safer than even dressing yourself and your bike in a ton of lights and reflective materials.
Packing a rechargable lithium-ion battery pack, the LightLane can perform its laser-beam duties for up to three hours of continuous use. You can recharge it either via USB or a wall outlet using any type of universal cell phone charger.
While the safety gadget is still in prototype form and currently waiting for investors, it’s one of those things that make so much sense, you can pretty much bet you’ll be seeing it in production sometime soon. Retail cost is projected to be around $50.
I wish they sell it with belt clamps too, so I can walk around with kick-ass lasers flanking my every step. Now, that would be really cool.
[Light Lane Bike ]