Radar Changing the Face of Cycling 235
First time accepted submitter Franz Struwig writes "MAKE Magazine has a great review of a bicycle radar product — showing off some of the early prototype innards: "The latest version features a 24 GHz radar antenna — high enough to resolve more targets and small enough to fit on a bike — an ARM processor, and Bluetooth LE to communicate with the front unit. The radar creates a doppler map, and recognizes not only the vehicle, but how far away it is and how quickly it’s approaching. It communicates this to the cyclist by a system of LEDs, and to the car by increasing the rate at which the tail light blinks as the car gets closer."
Re:They avoid epileptic frequencies, right? (Score:5, Interesting)
And what do you avoid? 8-70 Hz? More? Less? There isn't a single perfect flash to trigger it (the most reliable triggers are multi-color, which this is not, and the studies indicate that color of the monochromatic flashes matters, so red may not have the same "optimal" frequency as white, or other colors.
Re:Useless (Score:5, Interesting)
Putting a pair of amber lights out to the sides of your red center light, and having a sufficiently bright headlamp in front that illuminates a good chunk of road.
Those work because drivers assume that you're a motorcycle, and if you're a motorcycle then you're a lot heavier, and more likely to cause damage to their car.
With modern battery technology and modern, super-efficient lighting, it should be easy to fake a bicycle to light up like a motorcycle well enough to fool drivers at night.
Re:What we need... (Score:2, Interesting)
That, and do something about the assholes on bikes that think that little white line and bike lane are some sort of magic force field that protects them from massive hunks of steel inches to their left...
I agree, with the caveat that we need to do something about the drivers who don't. Only by working together can we avoid vaporizing cyclists.
The only cyclists I can't abide are the ones who ride side by side when there's any kind of visible traffic around, or where the view distance is inadequate to permit passing them in those conditions. Cut that shit out.
Re:What we need... (Score:4, Interesting)
That would never work in Seattle with our militant bike riders.
I was helping with a bike race once. We'd have a car pace behind the groups of riders at a safe distance to keep other cars away from them. One of the asshats on a bike seemed to think I was stalking them or something. Started yelling and gesturing at me, then dropped back to me and yelled to "get the fuck out of here and quit following us". Told him who I was, and radioed his number to HQ. His raceday ended at the next checkpoint.
Never did figure out his problem. Either 'roid rage, or just a bike rider with a bad attitude.
Now I just help with the mountainbike races like the Wilderness 101. My kind of people.
Re:What we need... (Score:4, Interesting)
Turning left on a bicycle would generally mean that you just come to a stop at the far right corner of the intersection, where pedestrians would wait to cross, and walking your bike across the street as a pedestrian when you get a walk signal. After clearing the intersection, you can get back on your bike and continue riding, completing your the left turn.
Really... it's not a remotely hard concept to grasp.
urban myth (Score:2, Interesting)
The idea that a blinking light can cause anyone to go into a seizure is an urban myth. Among other things, people who get seizures that easily aren't driving.
You have noticed that police, fire, ambulance, tow, utility, construction, etc. vehicles have flashing lights, right?