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My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

gill.net.in

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Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#281

Post by briandear »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #250
kjkjadksj wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some “militant” urban cycling commuters do things like attach a pool noodle horizontally and vertically to create space and visibility. I’d probably hazard a guess that avoiding highway miles also lowers your risk profile substantially.

The fact that people describe someone on a bicycle placing less than a pound of foam sticking out from their bicycle, usually shorter than the legally mandated passing distance, as "militant" when trucks and SUVs are purposefully designed by car companies to look as aggressive and angry as possible, really tells why US vulnerable road user safety is plunging while European vulnerable road user safety is going up.

“Looking” aggressive is irrelevant.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#282

Post by briandear »

Reason077 wrote: post #44

> “Moreover, during intense braking scenarios, it flashes proportionately to the braking intensity.” In Europe, a lot of modern cars have a similar feature. When braking particular hard (eg: a sudden emergency stop from highway speeds) the brake lights will flash rapidly to warn drivers behind you. It’s a very good safety feature, IMO. But not legal in North America?

I had that on my Suburban in Texas. Not sure where it is illegal, but my car had that as a dealer option.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#283

Post by SequoiaHope »

amelius wrote: post #113
SequoiaHope wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I helped Alex invent that product! I built the first prototype that helped him get funding and hand assembled some of the first PCB designs. My (old) name is on the patent. I’m glad to see this was already posted. I wear mine when I ride my 1500w ebike around and I feel so much safer with it. It’s really bright too!

That's cool. What principles is it based on and was it difficult to clean up the signals to get a reliable input?

I did not write the production code but I imagine they are tracking the velocity and acceleration vectors using a kalman filter and lighting up the lights when acceleration is negative in the direction of travel. By tracking the velocity vector in addition to acceleration one can eliminate the effects or the driver turning their head. I.e you are not just looking for a specific accelerometer axis to go negative, you have to use a more complex filter to determine the actual physical direction of travel of the device even as it rotates, and check for negative acceleration in that direction. To learn more:

https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_AHRS

https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-fuse-motion-sensor-data-in...

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#284

Post by SequoiaHope »

haiku2077 wrote: post #222
SequoiaHope wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I helped Alex invent that product! I built the first prototype that helped him get funding and hand assembled some of the first PCB designs. My (old) name is on the patent. I’m glad to see this was already posted. I wear mine when I ride my 1500w ebike around and I feel so much safer with it. It’s really bright too!

I got one for my birthday! What a great product. It does exactly what it says it does, and has no more complexity than required.

Yussss I’ve been really impressed that Alex has made such a solid product. He was starting up just as my business failed and I warned him it can be a difficult road, but he stuck with it and has delivered something really special.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#285

Post by bigfudge »

haiku2077 wrote: post #192
nandomrumber wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see, thanks for the info. I’m licensed but haven’t owned a bike in years. Do we have stats on whether more sports bike riders are involved in crashes that bikes with better visibility?

Not really. Outside of a few groups at places like Virginia Tech, motorcycle safety studies don't get much funding. Too niche. You can use insurance rates as a loose proxy- sportbikes are between one and three orders of magnitude more expensive to insure than adventure bikes, touring bikes or cruisers. But I suspect that has more to do with the average age of the riders.

I think you mean one and three times more expensive. 3 orders of magnitude is 1000 times more expensive!

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#286

Post by stonogo »

daleswanson wrote: post #272
alamortsubite wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the confusion may be that you commented on freeway safety, whereas the comment you replied to discussed highway safety. Freeways are limited access highways; not all highways are freeways.

That's a regional difference in terms. I would generally call a limited access highway, a "highway". https://brilliantmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/big-fast-road.j...

'Freeway' is a regional term, but the Federal Highway Administration describes them as limited-access with directions of travel separated by a barrier.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/processes/statewide/relate...

The Federal definition of highway is basically any public road.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/chapter-I/subchapter-D...

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#287

Post by [deleted] »

huhkerrf wrote: post #274
kelnos wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a negative visceral reaction to the "baby on board" stickers on cars. It feels really entitled; to me it says, "be extra careful with me, because my small child is more deserving of safety than other people".

If you'd like to be less unnecessarily cynical, you can instead read it as "there's someone in the vehicle who is more fragile, and less likely to survive an accident."

[deleted]

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#288

Post by aziaziazi »

huhkerrf wrote: post #274
kelnos wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a negative visceral reaction to the "baby on board" stickers on cars. It feels really entitled; to me it says, "be extra careful with me, because my small child is more deserving of safety than other people".

If you'd like to be less unnecessarily cynical, you can instead read it as "there's someone in the vehicle who is more fragile, and less likely to survive an accident."

I’d like to see it like that too but we don’t observe much « oldie inside » stickers. I don’t think he’s cynical and understand the sticker as a polite way to say the driver have more care for his baby than others human being, which is not to blame of course.

Re: My quest to make motorcycle riding that tad bit safer

#290

Post by aziaziazi »

andrewflnr wrote: post #265
psunavy03 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who open carries anywhere other than the wilderness or in the field while hunting is at best an attention whore with main-character syndrome . . . at best. What's more, notwithstanding the freakouts from Europeans and blue-staters about so-called "gun culture," you have no right to employ a firearm anywhere in the US unless someone is actively threatening to kill or maim you or a person near you. Not because y…

I didn't say it was a good idea, rather the opposite. But people do try to flat out murder motorcyclists.

Agree, but does the comparaison of "threatening to kill" and "flat out murder [while driving, right?]" stands? I’m not sure you’re allowed to use you gun to clear out your way because the priority violation was intentional.
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