The last word in safe bicycling, NOT! I mean, this could be a premature April Fool’s joke!
[September 2025 edit: Reviewing some of my old posts to update video links, I find that this video this has been marked ‘private’ on YouTube! But I saved it on my local storage. I post it here as fair-use commentary under copyright law.]
The Volvo promotion, also touted on the blog The Verge, is more an exercise in creative photography than anything else, but also does a lot of fearmongering. Buses are shown twice endangering bicyclists to the extent I have to wonder whether the videos were posed. A clip shows a bicyclist smashing into the back of a car, which can be avoided by maintaining safe following distance, not by lights or reflectorized items. Judging by the washout of the back of the car, this bicyclist is using a headlamp, though.
A bicyclist describes a left-hook (in the UK, right-hook in right-side driving countries), a type of crash which is avoided by not overtaking between a vehicle and the kerb (curb).
It is very easy to make reflectorized materials look splendidly bright by using a lamp on or next to the camera. As usual in promotions of nonstandard reflectorized products, a bicycle is shown in the video emblazoned with the product — which only works for the driver of a motor vehicle whose headlamps are aimed at it — but without the headlamp required by law for the bicyclist to alert others.
The bicycle’s saddle is at an impossibly uncomfortable angle.
A photo of three bicyclists is clearly a composite: there is no way that one after the other would light up. Also note that part of the rear wheel of the bicyclist on the right is lit up, because it is inside the area from the original photo with a light near the camera.
And who is to imagine that the chain, tires — and rims — on a bicycle with rim brakes — would be spray-painted?
Same with another clip where the bicyclist’s clothing flashes on and off while the bicycle remains bright. In any case, reflective coatings are nothing new, but one which is designed to last only 10 days, now that is a new twist in safety products. For information about earlier reflective coating promotions: http://www.bikexprt.com/witness/fabric/index.htm
