There’s a seemingly endless number of products on the market designed to keep urban bicyclists safe. LED-enabled smart helmets, fluorescent jackets with reflective arrows, backpacks that signal turns, rear lights which project bicycles onto the ground behind you, and the list goes on. With such a dizzying array of choices to keep yourself safe on the roads, it can be difficult to decide which types of equipment are the most effective, and where we should be investing our money.
In an effort to clear things up a bit, we’ve rounded up a list of our top 5 cycling safety innovations that no urban cyclist should be without. While I guess it’s not really “gear” so much as “infrastructure,” is now really the right time to nitpick about diction?
1. Buffers
A planter-box buffer protects Vancouver’s Hornby Street bike lane from vehicle traffic. Photo by Paul Krueger.
Buffers top the list for urban cycling safety gear because of their proven effectiveness at keeping people on bikes from getting smushed by people driving cars. While painted-on bike lanes are certainly a step in the right direction for cycling safety, they’re only as effective as motorists’ willingness to avoid driving or parking in them. Buffers are the game changer – by physically separating vehicle traffic from bicycle traffic, they can basically eliminate conflicts between the two modes. We decided to give the top spot to buffers rather than the infrastructure they’re commonly associated with (protected bike lanes), because they can also be employed in the less common but equally important protected intersection, and do their life-saving thing all the way through the road network.
While buffers are most commonly seen in the form of bollards or simple concrete barriers, many cities are going the extra mile and building planter-box buffers such as the one above. Both stylish and practical!
Read the rest of the list here!
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