With government encouragement, London is seeing more cyclists taking to the road, which is great for the environment and public health. Unfortunately, London’s roads were built for oxcarts, not bicycles, and certainly not cyclists and lorries at the same time. Sat nav company Navevo, in association with Transport for London (TLC), is trying to make this combination a bit safer with Navevo’s ProNav HGV Cyclist Alert software, which provides visual and audible warnings of junctions and stretches of road with heavy cycle traffic.
Cyclists are small, move relatively quickly and are hard to see. Meanwhile, lorry drivers are set high up and are often in cabs with limited visibility. Worse, the way in which cyclists ride can see them end up with them in blind spots at unpredictable times. Claimed by Navevo as a “world first,” the ProNav HGV Cyclist Alert software uses traffic flow data for the London road network from TLC and the Department of Transport to map out areas where cyclists and lorries are most likely to encounter one another in the London area.
When a HGV driver approaches one of these high-cyclist traffic areas, an audible and visual alert appears in the form of a warning symbol as well as a 50-meter (164-ft) “warning zone” circle around the area on the map. According to Navevo, 100 high convergence areas are displayed at present. This coverage intentionally includes only the busiest junctions because a constant string of alerts for every cycle lane would be counterproductive.
“A navigation system is something a driver is likely to be listening to as they approach a junction and so it makes perfect sense to also alert the driver of the risk of cyclists, reminding them to be observant and drive safely,” said Navevo CEO, Nick Caesari. “The safety of drivers, cyclists and other users of the road is a concern for everybody and we are proud to lead the navigation industry by launching this “world first” safety feature, which we believe could significantly contribute in improving road safety and reducing the number of incidents involving HGVs and cyclists.”
The software is standard on new ProNav PNN420 sat nav devices and will soon be provided on all ProNav systems. Navevo says that it plans to increase coverage and provide free updates.
All it takes is a little bit of thought and for the sat-nav manufacturers to forsake the profit they get for selling the maps themselves, which is a bit naughty anyway in my view.
Now if the sat-nav had a near-distance receiver of some sort built in to it that a cyclist could tune into so that whenever the cyclist was near to the sat-nav, say closer than 20 feet - and going in the same direction (to avoid false hits at junctions etc) - a dinger (or whatever) went off on the sat-nav to warn the lorry driver of the immediate proximity of an actual cyclist, then that might be worth implementing.
Come to that, sat-navs quite often have a bluetooth transceiver built-in and most cyclists have a mobile phone - surely theres an app for that? If there isn't then this is where some money and talent should be being spent. Horse riders could use it too - and walkers. Come on someone - there's a fortune to be made here!
I can't tell you how many times I have seen bikes and cars pull up along the right side of a truck signaling for a right turn with just enough room to not run over the sidewalk. Those of us that go crunch when going under the wheels need to watch out for our own safety.
In my expieriance Truck at fault is so rare as no to worry about it. However if you wobble a bright flashlight (not a laser) over his mirrors he will have a hard time not noticing you. Your running stops is far more likely to hurt or kill you than the truck drivers 'mistake'.