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There's a prototype Lightlane in existence now. It's a laser projector that paints an image of bike lane markings immediately behind a bike. Teh intertubes thinks this is a cool toy.
It's just that, a toy. Let's break it down to problems and solutions:
Problem: Rider believes cars are passing too close.
First off, are they, or does the rider need to HTFU? A lot of nervous nellies think they're being buzzed close to DETH but are in fact just riding on roads. Hence the pressure and enthusiasm for green paint everywhere. This is the first group of people to whom this device would be marketed (and for whom it would, universally, fail). It's the same target market as the orange plastic lollipop.
Let's say that the rider does have some nerve, but is being buzzed. The canonical solution to this is to ride in a vehicular style: take the lane, ride at traffic speed where possible, obey all road signs. Become a motorcycle. This absolutely works. It takes some stones to get started like this, but it's worth the investment in nerve.
But say that your rider is in deep urban terrain and close-quarters mixing is inevitable. Let's face it, you're not going to go from Marble Arch to the London Eye without getting a bit close. In these quarters the projector is useless because it is projecting onto the vehicles themselves, and even if it wasn't, traffic is so dense that drivers can't see the projected image.
Interestingly the "theory of big" -- the wider you are, the more space you get -- means that the plastic lollipop is actually better than this techno-dingus. It still screams "timid rider" -- blood in the water to a taxi driving shark -- but the extra visual bigness acts on driver collision-avoidance autopilot. Bright strips along the outside edges of panniers, flappy goth coats, two tail lights set apart, all do the same thing.
In summary, then, it exploits and then fails its target market. The only cool thing about it is that you could scavenge the laser for a head-mounted dazzler weapon.
It's just that, a toy. Let's break it down to problems and solutions:
Problem: Rider believes cars are passing too close.
First off, are they, or does the rider need to HTFU? A lot of nervous nellies think they're being buzzed close to DETH but are in fact just riding on roads. Hence the pressure and enthusiasm for green paint everywhere. This is the first group of people to whom this device would be marketed (and for whom it would, universally, fail). It's the same target market as the orange plastic lollipop.
Let's say that the rider does have some nerve, but is being buzzed. The canonical solution to this is to ride in a vehicular style: take the lane, ride at traffic speed where possible, obey all road signs. Become a motorcycle. This absolutely works. It takes some stones to get started like this, but it's worth the investment in nerve.
But say that your rider is in deep urban terrain and close-quarters mixing is inevitable. Let's face it, you're not going to go from Marble Arch to the London Eye without getting a bit close. In these quarters the projector is useless because it is projecting onto the vehicles themselves, and even if it wasn't, traffic is so dense that drivers can't see the projected image.
Interestingly the "theory of big" -- the wider you are, the more space you get -- means that the plastic lollipop is actually better than this techno-dingus. It still screams "timid rider" -- blood in the water to a taxi driving shark -- but the extra visual bigness acts on driver collision-avoidance autopilot. Bright strips along the outside edges of panniers, flappy goth coats, two tail lights set apart, all do the same thing.
In summary, then, it exploits and then fails its target market. The only cool thing about it is that you could scavenge the laser for a head-mounted dazzler weapon.
