Blaze bicycle lane laser

I saw one of these for the first time tonight (they aren't so common in brum). The guy was riding behind me with the green light flashing about on the floor right in front of me. Really distracting and annoying, I let him past in the end to get rid.

Vaguely saw one the other day whilst driving. Barely visible. Had to squint to figure out what it was. It was like playing catchphrase on the road. By the time I had said what I saw, whilst nearly side swiping the bloke on the bike projecting this sloppy outline, I had just enough time to look up and closely avoid rear ending the car in front. Total distraction bollocks.

Novelties like this come out fairly regularly but don't tend to be widely adopted, except by fans of gadgetry.

@Oliver Schick jinxed this. Now it's everywhere! Arrgghhh.

Guilty as charged. :) The silliness of the gadget is only matched by the gullibility of the authorities who put them on the hire bikes. In my defence, I think I was right until that contract was granted. Still, I'd be interested in seeing any kind of statistical evaluation of any claimed effects.

I'd be interested in some research into just where drivers look when checking mirrors etc. I can't imagine many drivers look to the ground, where they would have to to notice this thing.

I am genuinely curious as to how the useless pieces of crap got the endorsement of LCC, then were trialled by TFL on the hire bikes and how somehow they concluded "yes, these are good, let's put them on all our bikes".

I got so pissed off with these lights that I was considering putting in an FOI request to tfl to see what assessment/tendering process they followed and how much it cost, but I found info on their transparency pages, and here:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/cycling/santander-cycles/blaze-laserlights#on-this-page-3

In short, the designer won a student prize sponsored by Santander, and then they helped her out with a massive free advert by paying the majority of the costs to fit them to the hire bikes. I don't think tfl had much of a say in the matter.

They're still dangerous bollocks though, I always feel a bit like an RC car is about crash into my side when one comes wobbling around...

Because TfL is/was full of 'grey, pale and stale' management and Emily is a good salesperson?

Or more likely Santander own a stake in the product and they just got TFL to pay them a load of money.

I wonder if TFL actually paid for the lights. I wouldn't be surprised if Blaze had provided them to TFL as a big marketing exercise.

They're a private sector, even the mechanic earn shitload more than the head mechanic at Evans (£24,000+}.

I'm sorry, the head mechanic at Evans, presumably in London, earns £24k?!?

The fuck do you pay rent in this town on that much?

What did you expect?

That's almost double minimum wage and more than the majority of people earn...

24k? I'd be rich!

No, private sector mechanic is around £24,000, I know this because I applied to work there, didn't get it cause I kept misunderstanding them.

Even head mechanic at Evans earn a lots less than that.

[https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/296843/?offset=50#comment13354531]

Good pay Ed, but boring as fuck.

Doing the same shit all over again every days sound the worse job possible for a mechanic, but not sure if it's £24,000 worth it.

Least current roles is more interesting.

Discovered a FoI about the initial testing of 'blaze' (basically asking a few drivers of various vehicles if they could see the dancing green blob or not... unsurprisingly most said yes), and also a pisspoor wishy washy statement from TfL that the DfT said they were legal.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/test_results_of_blaze_laser_ligh#incoming-898056

I still think they're dangerously distracting for other cyclists, especially on crowded cycle superhighways. Why didn't TfL test them in those situations, especially as the CSHs are their babies as well?

The only good thing about these is they make me speed up when one approaches from behind to escape the stupid things.

The lights alone are perfectly good, and the founder is a very affable and competent woman, but I can't see how the green laser thing does anything beyond distract and confuse (primarily other cyclists). I don't know what TfL were thinking.

Saw one the other day on a hire bike that was pointing up at about 30 degrees above horizontal- could see it on the back of buses and on bridges when the rider passed under. That can't be good if it hits a driver or other cyclist's eyes...

That can't be good if it hits a driver or other cyclist's eyes...

This isn't an issue, lasers are safe if they are refracted and scattered. Blaze do this, and if the lasers go into your eyes you're going to see a sparkle of green but nothing blinding or even significantly dazzling.

In that respect these lights are better than most new headlamps in cars which are way too bright and can dazzle and blind even if you're not directly in the beam.

I still think the green laser is useless as a safety thing, and only serves as a marketing thing for which brand of light you have... but safety of the light itself isn't an issue.

My criticism is simply that there are better lights out there for this money that will do more to keep someone visible. And that if Blaze had dropped the laser they could have reduced cost, and complexity, and applied that great engineering to produce an even better headlamp at a more affordable price.

As for the Santander deal, they'll have achieved significant sales from it (7k units?) but it may count against them. No-one views the hire bikes as an example of great components of any kind, and the strong association of "green laser bike" with "cheap hire bike" is hardly the one that is going to sell a light that is priced at a premium market (any lamp over £90 is premium).

Being near them really makes me think that they're worse, not just useless. Even though I know what they are, I still haven't programmed my brain to think "funny green light on the floor = watch out for approaching cyclist" as opposed "oh funny green light on the floor, look at that... = almost step into path of cyclist who just isn't as eye-catching as the funny green light".
Can I see the funny green light? Sure. Does it make me Think Bike? No. (Although I'll probably get there eventually)

Blaze are sponsoring the HHV Track League this season.