Another article on bike lights?

That’s pretty dull right?

What if the lights actually did something more than flash?

What if :

1. they told you that someone was stealing your bike?
2. they could warn someone that you had come off your bike and needed help?
3. they flashed faster when you braked to warn drivers that you are there and slowing down?
4. they could record the condition, route and timing of the roads you were on and report them to a town council so they could build better roads?

The see.sense bicycle lights do all of these things.

Data from the lights is sent through the mobile App and reports :

This data can be reported on a road surface heat map to help the local council repair the roads and plan better cycling routes with better surface materials.

Look at the flow of traffic and delays at junctions to plan for better the flow of traffic and speed of traffic light changes.

Show the busiest routes for cycling.

Cyclists can report near accidents to the App manually.

This technology can help cities where they have a very successful bicycle culture.

Tel Aviv, a mobile city becoming a smart city 

I visited Tel-Aviv last October and was delighted to see that ebikes, scooters and bicycles were everywhere.

Bicycles of all shapes and forms have been so successful that the council is thinking of introduces mandatory lights and helmets for bicycles.

They are even considering a driving licence in order to minimise and manage the growing number of accidents.

I saw men and women riding together on one scooter, most adults without a helmet and kids weaving in and out of traffic with headphones on.

Really cool but not cool if they end up in hospital.

seesense have run trials in Dublin and Manchester with positive feedback received on both of the trials from the local authorities.

Introducing regulation had a negative effect on Tel-Aviv when they made helmets mandatory in 2008. They had to revoke that law as it was putting off people cycling.

Perhaps the introduction of  smart lights like the seesense lights could help the local authorities look at factual data and plan proper ebike routes for traffic.

What is clear is the more information reported by cyclists and technology such as seesence the better the view of the challenge we have as cycling grows more popular and cyclists and motorists share the same infrastructure.

This is a positive story where the reporting and usage of our data creates a better future.