Improving road safety

Cyclists have long used yellow vests, blinkers, LED
lights, and other methods to increase their visibility on the
road.

A company, Lumos, is helping to advance these solutions by
letting cyclists sport bright LED signs on their helmets that even
have turn and stop signals. 

Apple has now started selling the Lumos Matrix helmets^[1], which cost
$249.95, in its stores and online — giving the
road visibility company a little extra market
visibility.

RELATED: VOLVO CARS AND VOLVO TRUCKS
NOW COMMUNICATE TO IMPROVE ROAD SAFETY^[2]

Improving road safety

A WHO report recently showed that
more than half of all traffic deaths are pedestrians, bicyclists,
and motorcyclists.^[3]

Lumos^[4]
is reimagining road gear for cyclists, scooter riders and skaters
in order to help improve road safety worldwide.

Source: (screen capture)
Lumos/YouTube^[5]

“Design is really about solving human problems, but no one is
really looking at [the commuters’] problems,”
Lumos co-founder and CEO Eu-wen Ding
told Mashable^[6].

“What the traditional guys are trying to solve is, ‘How can we
make this super lightweight? How can we make this super
aerodynamic?’ We are asking different questions: ‘How can we make a
helmet that has a lot of lights, that can be seen from far away,
and that drivers can recognize?’”

Customizable safety helmets

As well as a strong front light, the Lumos Matrix helmet has a
7×11 dot-matrix (hence the name), animated LED screen on its
rear.

This allows riders to signal turns and also display a stop side
to drivers when they are coming to a halt. The battery, the company
says, has power-saving modes that would let it last the duration of
a marathon if needed.

A simple touchpad can be attached to a bike’s handlebars to
control the helmet, or an Apple Watch app can also be used
that detects hand signals.