Seven years ago, Emily Brooke, a product design student at the University of Brighton (the University of Brighton) in the United Kingdom, was robbed by a white van while riding a bicycle. Brooke found that the driver could not see himself, so he hoped to project a virtual image of himself from further away. This experience inspired her to invent a new type of bicycle light. While the lights illuminate the road at night, they can project a glowing green bicycle icon on the sidewalk 6 meters in front of the car, which looks a bit like a temporary bicycle lane.

With these lights, "things are very simple, especially truck, bus and pickup truck drivers, who can see cyclists who are in blind spots," said Brooke, who is now CEO of Beryl, a car light manufacturer. In addition, laser projection makes it easier for cyclists to see pedestrians and allows drivers to make more space for riders. After all, the projected image is the same as the width of the bicycle lane.

Brooke released the first product called Blaze on Kickstarter. The lamp has been so successful that the company has now introduced an upgraded version of the lamp called Laserlight Core, which is brighter, easier to disassemble and projects clearer images. "We hope to advance with laser technology to provide better quality and higher definition laser projection." Brooke said.

The basic intervention seems to have worked. After London launched a pilot to install the lights on shared bicycles, the city's transport agency, Transport for London, commissioned an independent survey on the effectiveness of the lights. They found that the lights produced better visuals than regular lights. Studies have shown that 65% of minivan drivers can see riders carrying standard LED lights at night, while the new lights provide visibility as high as 97%. Bus drivers say the new lights help to spot cyclists; 75% of riders are also more optimistic about the new lights. The lights are now installed on all shared bikes in London.

The company is also conducting a pilot with CitiBike Bike in New York, though Brooke said the program has not been scaled up due to budget constraints. It is also being trialled on the Bixi bike-sharing system in Montreal and will soon be rolled out to Glasgow bikes in Scotland.

The new lights don't change the fact that better infrastructure-such as completely separate bike lanes-will make it safer to ride in cities and will encourage more people to ride bicycles. But Brooke believes that better lights are one of the factors that will allow more people to ride. "We believe that we have more ways to get more people to choose bicycles as the primary mode of transportation," she said, "Personal safety is one of them, and we are committed to solving this problem and developing more products to make riders as visible and safe as possible. However, bicycle infrastructure and use are also two basic elements to get more cyclists on the streets, and we will support these efforts as much as possible."