How To Improve Commuter Safety (Tell me your pain points and wildest ideas)

[Ming the Merciless]

Some of the things you’ll encounter regularly as a commuter cyclist are metal grids and drain covers and pot holes plus debris that punctures your tyres in the margin of the road. ideally you’d invent some kind of cover for the metal grids and drain covers that renders them less than lethal when wet plus pot holes would be fixed very promptly.

Some kind of machine learning system that can be mounted on the front of the bike and highlight pot holes, drain covers, grids, glass / thorns then perhaps talk to a bar mounted smartphone over Bluetooth etc.

What safety concerns do you have cycling to school.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

You are clearly right @HobbesOnTour that this is a project for a specific purpose - to demonstrate an ability to follow a brief and show a creative response. At the same time I think it is reasonable for us to reply genuinely to what is asked of us.

Maybe the OP would get a bonus point if they mentioned the importance of identifying the source of danger, and different possible approaches to addressing the problem of cyclist vulnerability?

Thanks.
It is reasonable to reply to what is asked of us. The OP is being quite clever in comparison to most who come up with their own ideas and ask for input at the end of the process. Their questions were broad and very open.

I also think it's reasonable to reply reasonably.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

New cycle commuters are often put off as the only route they currently know is their car commute. They try to cycle their car commute, decide it’s not very pleasant and give up. There is very little data on the actual routes experienced cycle commuters take between various places. I don’t think Strava has accurate / meaningful data on it.

You could develop a website / app to help new commuters to find safer proven commute routes between where they live and where they work. I did this as part of a bicycle user group at the place I used to work. But it could be done at a much greater scale. Often adding a couple extra miles via much quieter roads is the biggest difference you can make to a cycle commuter’s safety.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

I thought electric vehicles are meant to emit an engine like noise? Besides which they are hardly silent, the tyres on the road make quite a noise.

Different countries different rules.
They are still a lot more quiet than a conventional car and the real issue will be if one or more are following a conventional vehicle.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

New cycle commuters are often put off as the only route they currently know is their car commute. They try to cycle their car commute, decide it’s not very pleasant and give up. There is very little data on the actual routes experienced cycle commuters take between various places. I don’t think Strava has accurate / meaningful data on it.

You could develop a website / app to help new commuters to find safer proven commute routes between where they live and where they work. I did this as part of a bicycle user group at the place I used to work. But it could be done at a much greater scale. Often adding a couple extra miles via much quieter roads is the biggest difference you can make to a cycle commuter’s safety.

Excellent idea.
Already done, though
https://cycle.travel/map

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Excellent idea.
Already done, though
https://cycle.travel/map

Nope that doesn’t have a cycle commute option as far as I can see.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Excellent idea.
Already done, though
https://cycle.travel/map

Doesn't matter. The OP needs to demonstrate the design process, not necessarily implement something that's brand new.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Doesn't matter. The OP needs to demonstrate the design process, not necessarily implement something that's brand new.

I know.
Cycle.travel is a great tool and I'll take any opportunity to give it a plug😊

 

[All uphill]

I'd like an app that spots potholes and reports them directly to the local highways authority.

And a device that automatically detects and reports close passes to the local police force.

 

[MichaelW2]

So how did you know he had one if you couldn’t see it?

Visible from straight above as you pass on the bike but not from a following car.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I'd like an app that spots potholes and reports them directly to the local highways authority.

And a device that automatically detects and reports close passes to the local police force.

If a pothole-spotting device were developed, I'm sure it would be relatively easy to add to it a pothole marking device which sprays it with hi-vis, neon, glow-in-the-dark marker paint, so as to enable the next cyclists along (before it's promptly fixed by the highways dept) to see and safely avoid ... better make the paint long-lasting, too, just in case of any delay ...

 

[cyberknight]

Nope that doesn’t have a cycle commute option as far as I can see.

what about strava heat map?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

what about strava heat map?

Theres a difference between what I’d call sport cycling and commuting. The routes chosen by each are not necessarily compatible and there is no way to filter heat maps by time of day as far I’m aware. A road that is fine on weekends or mid day may be a nightmare during rush hour.

 

[rogerzilla]

If a pothole-spotting device were developed, I'm sure it would be relatively easy to add to it a pothole marking device which sprays it with hi-vis, neon, glow-in-the-dark marker paint, so as to enable the next cyclists along (before it's promptly fixed by the highways dept) to see and safely avoid ... better make the paint long-lasting, too, just in case of any delay ...

Network Rail do this with their HST-based test train. It drops paint on the track where a problem is detected, making it easy for the guys in orange overalls to find.

 

[cyberknight]

KnittyNorah said:

If a pothole-spotting device were developed, I'm sure it would be relatively easy to add to it a pothole marking device which sprays it with hi-vis, neon, glow-in-the-dark marker paint,
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