Light Insight Trial (LiT): Smart bike lights data and road safety

Historically, insights related to the road safety issues faced by people who ride bicycles in Victoria has been limited. This has, in turn, left a gap in knowledge and limited evidence to inform road safety improvements. In response a team of road safety experts, researchers and cyclists will investigate whether the use of smart bicycle lights can address this gap and therefore improve safety for this group of road users.

Participants

• • • Transport Accident Commission
      
    • Deakin University
    • See.Sense

Project background

Given the recent increase in active travel participation during the COVID-19 period and growing cycling infrastructure, initiatives for safer cycling are likely to further boost and encourage cycling participation.

Increasing the visibility of people who ride bikes is one of the key strategies to improve their safety. The technology integrated into See.Sense’s bike light has the potential to increase the visibility of cyclists and reveal data insights related to safety, cycling environment, and riding quality. These insights will create tremendous opportunities for safety diagnosis and policy making for safer cycling.

This trial aims establish if providing cyclists with this world-leading technology that enhances their visibility will also provide new insight into the road safety issues faced by this group.

Project objectives

• Empower people who ride to participate in a trial which will evaluate a smart bike lights ability to provide road safety insights to researchers and practitioners.
• Engage with a range of people who ride to ensure participation in the trial is widespread and representative of the whole cycling population.
• Evaluate the technology’s ability to allow cyclists to overlay their experience on top of road safety insights.
• Develop a framework for the technology that complies with privacy requirements and provides adequate detail to be useful to road safety practitioners.
• Understand if technology such as the See.Sense smart light is viable as a tool to inform the TAC on its investments or public education in the area of bicycle safety.
• Establish if the technology can produce insights which are sufficiently detailed such that they can inform the planning, investment and policy of Victorian road safety partners.

UPDATE: JULY 2021

TAC is now accepting expressions of interest to take part in this trial. Needed are 1,000 Victorian bike riders to participate over the 12 months of of the trial. More information, and how to apply is on TAC’s Bicycle light trial – Light Insights Trial (LiT) page. Expressions of Interest close on 21 July 2021.

UPDATES: SEPTEMBER 2022

We’ve published a new article about this trial, in which we discuss how the trail works, just how smart the bike light is, how the data collected is handled and protected, along wih quotes from project and research leads. Read the article at Understanding the cyclist experience to improve their road safety.

Also, the Transport Accident Commission has released a two-minute video, with quotes from Phillip McAleese of the smart bike light maker See.Sense, and lead researcher on the project, Deakin University’s Associate Professor Ashim Debnath. Phillip and Ashim speak to what the project is investigating, how it s doing it, and the expected benefits. Sneak a look too at some of the data visualisation.

Click the play button below to hear the latest on this project.

UPDATE: Final report

A wrap-up article of this project, with a downloadable copy of the final report, is available at Smart bike lights, data, and improved cyclist safety