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Exterior door handles on cars with some sort of built-in illumination. Perhaps from an LED or something.
The illumination would be turned on when you press the little button on your keyfob to unlock the car - this would allow you to see, when it is dark, where the door handle is. Crucially though,
it would also illuminate as you start pulling the door handle on the inside of the door when getting out of the car. This would mean that the door handle on the outside would light up a second or two before the door actually opened, thus allowing any cyclist who might otherwise plough straight into the soon-to-open door some vital reaction time to take evasive action. If the LED was bright enough, this would also work during daylight hours and save the lives of scores of cyclists who currently perish in high-speed bicycle/car-door related collisions on the streets of our cities every day.
[Seriously, I cycled very fast into an opening car door once when I was younger - wrecked my bike and got a nasty bump on my head, but it could have been worse]
[ps - this isn't exactly the same as 'Light Handles' because of the link between opening the door from the inside and lighting up the door handle, and the cyclist safety angle]
(?) I was thinking along the lines of door handles, done in the following style...
http://caxton.stock.../bookish/picture$53
[zen_tom, Dec 09 2006]
[link]
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I think this is baked but i'm not 100% sure, the exit illumination is a good idea in itself +. |
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I'm not entirely convinced that having two sets of handles rather than one differentiates this from the other idea you mention. And a different prespective certainly doesn't change the idea. This strikes me as more suitable as an annotation than a seperate idea. |
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Also, after the 'second or before the door actually opened' the door would open and the cyclist might assume that they imagined it, as the person opening the door would probably have their hand over the interior light handle. |
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hippo, I also broke a couple of fingers in the same way (hands on brakes). I consider it my fault, since I was belting up the inside of a queue of cars. It was a good lesson. But I don't think your idea would work for two reasons:
The first is that no one would want to wait a few seconds to get out of the car, while the light is giving its warning. They already didn't look to see if anyone was walking/ riding/ driving past. They must be in a hurry. The other reason is that it would be fine in the night, but in the day would be almost invisible. |
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Now, a lihgt around the kehyole, I could ush that after a fwe bottle sof wine. |
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Many cars have lights around the keyhole.
I don't know if it would be good to drive
after a few bottles anyway. It would be
better to illuminate the toilet bowl. (I know
my earlier idea is about toilets. I have no
fixation on toilets) |
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No, you misunderstand - this light
would come on as soon as you start
pulling the interior door handle - thus,
it would come on a moment before the
door opened or the interior light came
on. My bicycle light doesn't illuminate
events which are about to happen, so
that wouldn't help. |
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With all his effort, I assume that the
bicycler is out of the field of vision in the
side mirror? Or are drivers just lazy when
it comes to checking? |
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The light would come on as soon as you *think* about opening the door. |
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//got a nasty bump on my head//
This explains much. |
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Drivers are lazy about checking. Being doored is probably the most common bicycle accidents in urban areas. |
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And the best part is, the cyclist thinks it's an accident .... |
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