Few things are more relaxing than an evening bicycling ride through the quiet city streets. But it’s also the kind of leasure activity that leaves riders dangerously vulnerable to oncoming cars.
To mitigate this risk, a few clever inventors have come up with innovative safety concepts aimed at making riders more visible. There’s Revolights, a rim-mounted tube of LED lights that enables bicycle wheels to glow as of way of alerting nearby cars. Also, Emily Brooke, a college student, invented BLAZE, a device that warns drivers of the presence of a rapidly approaching bicycle by projecting a bright green laser image of a bike on to the road ahead.
- Related: Innovative bike tire can inflate itself
- Related: Prison jumpsuit lets anyone transform into a gigantic airbag
Now a couple of students at New York University has siezed on the illumination approach and have created a product that’s even flashier: T-shirts and sweatshirts emblazoned with retroreflective material. After Alex Vessels and Mindy Tchieu put up prototypes of thier We-Flashy designs on Kickstarter, the idea generated so much interest that donations exceeded the funding goal by nearly double. I’d say you can credit such enthusiasm to the fact that the designs are actually quite stylish and hip. A lot of products geared toward safety treats aesthetics as an afterthought when the reality is that “looks” can be a dealbreaker for a lot of people.
“Most apparel companies using retroreflective elements only use it for small logos or trim. We-Flashy uses a generous amount of ANSI-rated retroreflective material to create entire patterns on our garments,” according to the company website.
Interested shoppers can peruse and place orders at We-Flashy’s online shop. Prices range from $55 for customized American Apparel T-shirts to $150 for sweatshirts.
Contributor’s Note: Inspired by the upcoming Holiday season and emails from readers, I will occasionally spotlight and preview innovative game-changing new products that may be the perfect gift for you or someone you know. Subscribe to the RSS news feed or SmartPlanet’s newsletter for news and updates on more smart products.
Contributor’s Note: Inspired by the Holiday season and emails from readers, I will occasionally spotlight and preview innovative game-changing new products that may be the perfect gift for you or someone you know. Subscribe to the RSS news feed or SmartPlanet’s newsletter for news and updates on more smart products.
Related:
- Student invention may make road safer for bicyclists
- New car technology can stop drunks from driving
- Smart car WiFi system can prevent car accidents
More innovative products:
- Flyboard jetpack lets you perform dolphin aerial tricks [video]
- VIDEO: A motor home that fits in your car
- Your own electric airplane for the price of a car
- ‘Back to the Future’ self-lacing shoes coming 2015
- Innovative camping trailer transforms into a boat [video]
- A waterproof smartphone? Amazing spray coating makes it possible [video]
