Leah Buechley, a PhD student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is well known for her electronic clothing–just take a look at the LED shirt project she did for CRAFT:01. Her signal jacket (above) for cyclists seems like such a fantastic invention that should be made by all you bikers out there and adopted into biking gear. The jacket is powered by the LilyPad Arduino which is available here at Sparkfun. Link.
From the pages of CRAFT:01
CRAFT: 01 – “The Electric Tank Top,” by Leah Buechley pgs 54 – 67. Digital Subscribers can read the article here. – Link.
Subscribe to CRAFT Magazine and get 4 quarterly issues for only $34.95 (US) – Link.
4 thoughts on “Signal Jacket for Cyclists”
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Cute, but, as a part-time cyclist married to a passionate competitive cyclist, I’m not confident this wouldn make much difference to a motorist (which I sometimes am as well so it’s not like I’m pointing fingeres) who just doesn’t pay much attention when behind the wheel. As many posters pointed out on the original site, most motorists don’t even know the basic hand signals (hello? driver’s ed?) so they aren’t going to notice this either.
The link I followed really disturbed me because many people posted jokingly about how they would like to run over cyclists in their car. Um, wtf?? If you’ve ever had someone you cared about come out on the bad side of a motorist vs. bicycle accident you definitely feel some rage when you see some asshat post something that says “wah wah wah” in reference to cyclists who are concerned about their safety on the road. Is it too far-fetched for them to imagine that one of those people on two wheels out there just MIGHT be one of your friends? And if you think of everyone on the road that way, would you drive differently? And think differently? God, I hope so.
Cool idea!
i think something like this could make a difference. for the drivers who aren’t familiar with hand signals, this speaks more their language.
personally, ive been considering hooking up a blinker system on my panniers, not only for the reason stated above (that it’s the type of communication drivers are used to), but for the added reflective value even when they aren’t in use.
and for the folks who are tempted to run down cyclists: stop trying to nail me and my friends. I don’t ride around with a shotgun blasting at every SUV I see, so don’t drive around trying to run us off the road. I’m no legal expert, but premeditated vehicular manslaughter is no minor offense.
bikes belong in traffic. (Uniform Vehicle Code, Chapter 11, Article 12)