Many motorists say, after crashing into a motorbiker, “I just didn’t see you.”
This can happen in good visibility, when the bike rider is bedecked in dayglo colours and his headlight is on.
One problem seems to be that it’s easy to overlook a single oncoming headlight, or even a fixed bank of spotlights, because its hard to see things that aren’t moving relative to the observer.
Some instructors suggest wiggling your front forks a little if you feel you haven’t been seen. This is fine but a) this may not be safe to do and b) there is still guesswork around whether the motorcyclist’s headlight has been registered.
Today’s invention offers a cheap approach to increased riding safety.
A thin plastic lens is attached to the headlight, using a couple of small springs. The lens may need a small weight attached.
The springs/mass system is chosen so that a wide variety of road surfaces will cause the lens to oscillate chaotically across the headlight lens.
Without losing any of the light’s output, the jiggling of the beam will make a motorcyclist much more detectable.
