Go Back  Bike Forums > Bike Forums > Advocacy & Safety
Reload this Page >

Synchronized lights - looks cool, but is it safer?

Notices
Advocacy & Safety Cyclists should expect and demand safe accommodation on every public road, just as do all other users. Discuss your bicycle advocacy and safety concerns here.

Synchronized lights - looks cool, but is it safer?

Old 06-14-19, 02:56 PM
  #1  
tyrion
Senior Member
Thread Starter
 
tyrion's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 4,077

Bikes: Velo Orange Piolet

Mentioned: 28 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2228 Post(s)
Liked 2,011 Times in 972 Posts
Synchronized lights - looks cool, but is it safer?


https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/bike-swarm/overview/
tyrion is offline  
Likes For tyrion:
Old 06-14-19, 03:15 PM
  #2  
Maelochs
Senior Member
 
Maelochs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 15,453

Bikes: 2015 Workswell 066, 2017 Workswell 093, 2014 Dawes Sheila, 1983 Cannondale 500, 1984 Raleigh Olympian, 2007 Cannondale Rize 4, 2017 Fuji Sportif 1 LE

Mentioned: 144 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7628 Post(s)
Liked 3,453 Times in 1,823 Posts
Not seeing where crickets and fireflies have to worry about colliding with automobiles. Not seeing where pulsing lights are going to attract that much more attention. Can see where this is one more expensive product, and more wifi, and thus more batteries, for at best minuscule increases in safety.

These people should have studied bike accidents. Had they they would have learned that head-on collisions are not a serious bike-safety issue, and that cars almost never drive into packs of cyclists---and when they do so it is generally deliberate, or the result of intoxication, or both.

If these "inventors" had listened to birds, they would have found that birds take turns .... as they awaken and join the morning chorus, each bird adds his or her cry to the end of an ongoing cycle of calls. So learning form nature, they should have devised an algorithm whereby each light flashed in sequence, and new riders were added to the end of the sequence as they reached the intersection. After all, look how infrequently cars hit birds.
Maelochs is offline  
Old 06-14-19, 03:41 PM
  #3  
mr_bill
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 4,529
Mentioned: 34 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2111 Post(s)
Liked 663 Times in 443 Posts
Originally Posted by tyrion
But is it safer?
Stay tuned....

But the Media Lab is very much antidisciplinary. What can be implemented? What are the implications? They ask questions, but may not have the answers you seek. They encourage YOU to find answers. (The UU’s of the geek world.)

So they throw spaghetti at the wall. What sticks?

Stay tuned....

However, even a small peloton is a large vehicle. No other large vehicle blinks out of phase. (Think turn signals and hazards.)

My bike “headlight” doesn’t even know what my “taillight” is doing. (From the videos, neither do theirs.)

Aside: If nothing else, clearly the cacophony of blinkies is clearly undesirable in even a small peloton.

-mr. bill

Last edited by mr_bill; 06-14-19 at 03:48 PM.
mr_bill is offline  
Old 06-14-19, 04:35 PM
  #4  
CliffordK
Senior Member
 
CliffordK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Eugene, Oregon, USA
Posts: 27,600
Mentioned: 217 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 18320 Post(s)
Liked 4,489 Times in 3,338 Posts
I prefer solid front lights and blinking in the rear.

Harsh front blinking is very distracting, but the more sinusoidal dimming/brighter is at least tolerable.

As far as synchronized... What's the point. Cool looking? I don't see any true benefit to it. And, it may make it more difficult to discern group size (especially if perhaps it is only 2 riders together).
CliffordK is offline  
Likes For CliffordK:
Old 06-14-19, 05:12 PM
  #5  
holytrousers
hoppipola
 
holytrousers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2016
Posts: 423

Bikes: fausto coppi

Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 512 Post(s)
Liked 227 Times in 163 Posts
Originally Posted by CliffordK
I prefer solid front lights and blinking in the rear.

Harsh front blinking is very distracting, but the more sinusoidal dimming/brighter is at least tolerable.

As far as synchronized... What's the point. Cool looking? I don't see any true benefit to it. And, it may make it more difficult to discern group size (especially if perhaps it is only 2 riders together).
To make the group appear as one large entity, which might affect car drivers' behaviour and (hopefully) make them less arrogant ?
it should be taillights though
holytrousers is offline  
Old 06-14-19, 08:10 PM
  #6  
Maelochs
Senior Member
 
Maelochs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 15,453

Bikes: 2015 Workswell 066, 2017 Workswell 093, 2014 Dawes Sheila, 1983 Cannondale 500, 1984 Raleigh Olympian, 2007 Cannondale Rize 4, 2017 Fuji Sportif 1 LE

Mentioned: 144 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7628 Post(s)
Liked 3,453 Times in 1,823 Posts
Originally Posted by holytrousers
To make the group appear as one large entity, which might affect car drivers' behaviour and (hopefully) make them less arrogant ?
it should be taillights though
So ... the driver will think he is seeing a single gigantic vehicle and not a bunch of bikes and will be afraid to hit it?

Yeah, I bet the stats show that clearly.

Blinking headlights are great during the day but at night can paint a confusing picture if they go form complete dark to bright light. Even dimming/swelling headlights can create the illusion of movement and uncertainty as the shadows move across the landscape.

As far as blinkies in pelotons, taillights blinking in unison would still be blinking ... and in my experience only the bike directly in front is an issue.

This is a wonderful solution to a non-existent problem. Even the people promoting it cannot explain why it is better than the current alternatives.
Maelochs is offline  
Likes For Maelochs:
Old 06-14-19, 09:11 PM
  #7  
I-Like-To-Bike
Been Around Awhile
 
I-Like-To-Bike's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Burlington Iowa
Posts: 29,951

Bikes: Vaterland and Ragazzi

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 12 Post(s)
Liked 1,517 Times in 1,031 Posts
The promoters are not claiming that their product - synchronized lights - provides any added safety benefit; only that synchronized lights can be done and it looks cool/neato.
I-Like-To-Bike is offline  
Old 06-14-19, 09:20 PM
  #8  
FiftySix
I'm the anecdote.
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: S.E. Texas
Posts: 1,823

Bikes: '12 Schwinn, '13 Norco

Mentioned: 9 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1110 Post(s)
Liked 1,176 Times in 795 Posts
The lights stay at full strength while riding alone, but the lights sync and pulse when other bikes with the same lights get together?

So, the reason for bikes owned by individuals to have this technology is what? (legitimate question)

Might be fun for group rides or rental fleets.

Could be annoying for any other reason. I can imagine that I'm pedaling along and my light starts pulsing because a stranger got near me.

Yeah, I want to become a swarming creature like an insect, that's it.
FiftySix is offline  
Old 06-16-19, 06:36 AM
  #9  
Moe Zhoost
Half way there
 
Moe Zhoost's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,955

Bikes: Many, and the list changes frequently

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 985 Post(s)
Liked 879 Times in 526 Posts
I can't see that pulsing lights would be any safer than continuous lights in such an organized, slow-moving, well-illuminated group such as that shown.

"Synchronized" continuous lighting is easier to engineer, too.
Moe Zhoost is offline  
Old 06-16-19, 07:18 AM
  #10  
jon c. 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 4,812
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1591 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1,015 Times in 570 Posts
Looks like a fun idea. Absolutely no impact on safety though.
jon c. is offline  
Old 06-17-19, 01:06 AM
  #11  
Rollfast
What happened?
 
Rollfast's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Around here somewhere
Posts: 8,050

Bikes: 3 Rollfasts, 3 Schwinns, a Shelby and a Higgins Flightliner in a pear tree!

Mentioned: 57 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1835 Post(s)
Liked 292 Times in 255 Posts
Just confuses drunks.
__________________
I don't know nothing, and I memorized it in school and got this here paper I'm proud of to show it.
Rollfast is offline  
Old 06-20-19, 08:04 PM
  #12  
MikeyMK
Cycleway town
 
MikeyMK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Milton Keynes, England
Posts: 1,402

Bikes: 2.6kw GT LTS e-tandem, 250w Voodoo, 250w solar recumbent trike, 3-speed shopper, Merlin ol/skl mtb, 80cc Ellswick

Mentioned: 7 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 569 Post(s)
Liked 169 Times in 117 Posts
I think a group of bike lights would be more visible if their lights are naturally chaotic. Or are, as the case is already. This idea can't be pedalled as anything other than a gimmick from what I can see.
MikeyMK is offline  
Likes For MikeyMK:
Old 09-26-19, 03:52 PM
  #13  
mr_bill
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 4,529
Mentioned: 34 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2111 Post(s)
Liked 663 Times in 443 Posts
Media Lab has been in the news for other than A&S reasons, however....



Kickstarter started.


-mr. bill
mr_bill is offline  
Old 09-27-19, 08:18 AM
  #14  
Daniel4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Toronto
Posts: 3,497

Bikes: Sekine 1979 ten speed racer

Mentioned: 15 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1477 Post(s)
Liked 637 Times in 436 Posts
Wouldn't it be cool if all bicycle strobe lights around the world were perfectly synchronized?
Daniel4 is offline  
Old 09-27-19, 12:19 PM
  #15  
Milton Keynes
Senior Member
 
Milton Keynes's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 3,947

Bikes: Trek 1100 road bike, Roadmaster gravel/commuter/beater mountain bike

Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2281 Post(s)
Liked 1,710 Times in 936 Posts
Originally Posted by MikeyMK
I think a group of bike lights would be more visible if their lights are naturally chaotic.
I think you're right. Think of an emergency vehicle... an ambulance for instance. More attention is gotten by having the emergency lights all over it flashing out of sequence rather than having them all flashing at the same time.
Milton Keynes is offline  
Likes For Milton Keynes:
Old 09-30-19, 07:15 AM
  #16  
Synack42
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Michigan
Posts: 93
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 44 Post(s)
Liked 46 Times in 17 Posts
Don't know what I think about the pulsing, I'd probably find it annoying unless there is sufficient ambient light. I do like the downtube lightstrip though -- I guess it's not very practical being behind the front wheel and whatnot...but it looks cool...
Synack42 is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
daoswald
Advocacy & Safety
26
08-04-18 05:24 AM
Cutawooda
Advocacy & Safety
152
06-24-17 11:27 PM
GMJ
Singlespeed & Fixed Gear
54
03-10-12 06:52 AM
Richard Cranium
Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets
31
04-07-10 01:34 PM
Sixty Fiver
Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets
54
12-07-09 10:56 AM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.