All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

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Ross
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All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Ross » Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:40 am

“Bicycles will definitely have to communicate with other vehicles," says CONEBI's general manager.

https://www.bikebiz.com/news/bike-beacons
Many lives would be saved if cycles were fitted with “bicycle-to-vehicle” beacons, a cycle industry association boss told automotive leaders at an event on the first day of the Geneva Motor Show.

Manuel Marsilio, general manager of the Confederation for the European Bicycle Industry was speaking at the ‘Future Networked Car’ symposium. This brought together motorcar manufacturers, information and communication technology industries, governments and regulators to discuss the status and future of vehicle-to-vehicle communications and automated driving.​

It is the goal of the “connected car” industry to make cyclists wear "beacons" so they can be detected more easily. Currently, "erratic" cyclists are hard to detect by autonomous vehicles. And pedestrians, too, are often not spotted by a plethora of detection devices on the most tricked-out "driverless cars".

B2V is a new addition to the Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything technology. C-V2X connects equiped vehicles to a larger communications system allowing them to communicate with other vehicles, pedestrian devices, cyclists and roadside infrastructure, such as traffic signs and construction zones.

B2V-enabled equipment gives alerts directly to approaching vehicles fitted with corresponding detection devices. The downside, of course, is that not all cycles will be equipped with beacons or other B2V alert methods, so the tech is far from a panacea. And pedestrians, too, would also need to carry beacons, showing that "smart" cars are a long way off being truly smart, a point raised earlier by transport correspondent Christian Wolmar in this BikeBiz-connected podcast.

b4igo
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby b4igo » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:38 am

If every smartphone/smart watch were to eventually carry such a beacon then the network would certainly expand fairly rapidly, without the need for pedestrians and cyclists to carry an additional device. Kids might still be an issue however, and stand alone devices would still be required for those who don’t carry a smartphone.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby fat and old » Fri Mar 23, 2018 6:58 am

Aside from the language used by the interviewee, I like the idea. Proximity sensors are nothing new in my industry, and work well.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby bychosis » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:23 am

As long as the beacon only says ‘I’m a bike’ and not ‘here’s johnny’. It’ll still be the continuation of the watch of big brother.

Surely pedestrians would need to carry one too - if it is really for safety and not some other reason.
bychosis (bahy-koh-sis): A mental disorder of delusions indicating impaired contact with a reality of no bicycles.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby human909 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:51 am

Why are we continuing to try to design our world to fit cars? One could quite easily be mistaken that cars are actually the dominant lifeforms on this planet.

If cars, whether they be autonomous or not, keep injuring and killing people then the solution is control the behavior of cars. Not control the behavior of others.
b4igo wrote:If every smartphone/smart watch were to eventually carry such a beacon then the network would certainly expand fairly rapidly, without the need for pedestrians and cyclists to carry an additional device. Kids might still be an issue however, and stand alone devices would still be required for those who don’t carry a smartphone.
Yep. Great idea. Cyclist/pedestrian deaths will now be blamed on the cyclist/pedestrian not carrying a smartphone or having had it run out of battery. :?

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Thoglette
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Thoglette » Fri Mar 23, 2018 9:59 am

Blame the victim so we can sell more stuff.
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby find_bruce » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:03 am

Would need to be mandatory on motor vehicles before it is of any practical effect. Unlikely to ever be mandatory to retro-fit.
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uart
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby uart » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:27 am

Well at least by the time it happens we'll all be so accustomed to this type of thing, what with mandatory helmets and possibly mandatory hi vis etc, that we will consider putting the onus on the victim like this as completely normal. :(

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby bychosis » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:28 am

find_bruce wrote:Would need to be mandatory on motor vehicles before it is of any practical effect. Unlikely to ever be mandatory to retro-fit.
That's a good point.
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Scintilla » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:33 am

It is the goal of the “connected car” industry to make cyclists wear "beacons" so they can be detected more easily. Currently, "erratic" cyclists are hard to detect by autonomous vehicles. And pedestrians, too, are often not spotted by a plethora of detection devices on the most tricked-out "driverless cars".
The bigotry of the modern automotive industry. :x

Nothing all that new actually

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby AdelaidePeter » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:43 am

Will pedestrians need to be fitted with beacons too? The idea is absurd. It won't happen.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby bychosis » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:54 am

AdelaidePeter wrote:Will pedestrians need to be fitted with beacons too? The idea is absurd. It won't happen.
and kangaroos... and wombats... and cattle... and trees...
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Scintilla » Fri Mar 23, 2018 11:24 am

Image

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby duncanm » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:09 pm

get a bag full of beacons and scatter them on the nearest road.

Watch ensuing hilarity.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby bychosis » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:12 pm

duncanm wrote:get a bag full of beacons and scatter them on the nearest road.

Watch ensuing hilarity.
for even better kicks strap one to a nesting magpie. Bicycles falling from the sky!!!
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Thoglette » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:19 pm

Scintilla wrote: :lol:
That's what we said about MHLs. Then someone convinced Little Johnny to tie them to road funding and the states caved in.

There's similar examples around J-walking and anti-dink laws. But as Pope Innocent III would say, it's for our own protection.
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby queequeg » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:29 pm

human909 wrote:Why are we continuing to try to design our world to fit cars? One could quite easily be mistaken that cars are actually the dominant lifeforms on this planet.

If cars, whether they be autonomous or not, keep injuring and killing people then the solution is control the behavior of cars. Not control the behavior of others.
Indeed, in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the character "Ford Prefect" got his name as he "skimped a bit on his preparatory research," and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous". He had simply mistaken the car as the dominant form of life on Earth, thus named himself after one.
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby human909 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:48 pm

queequeg wrote:Indeed, in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the character "Ford Prefect" got his name as he "skimped a bit on his preparatory research," and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous". He had simply mistaken the car as the dominant form of life on Earth, thus named himself after one.
I did hope someone would get it. :wink:

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Scintilla » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:12 pm

Thoglette wrote:
Scintilla wrote: :lol:
That's what we said about MHLs. Then someone convinced Little Johnny to tie them to road funding and the states caved in.
Little Paulie. Jumping Johnny was sent to the time-out room at that stage.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Cheesewheel » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:29 pm

Wouldn't it be easier just to permanently attach sensors to idiots that emit a constant audible alarm to alert others to their proximity?

I am thinking something like this.

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They could trial its use on Harold Scrubby and see if it successfully reduces the amount of airplay he gets in the media.
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Thoglette » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:31 pm

Scintilla wrote:
Thoglette wrote:
Scintilla wrote: :lol:
That's what we said about MHLs. Then someone convinced Little Johnny to tie them to road funding and the states caved in.
Little Paulie. Jumping Johnny was sent to the time-out room at that stage.
Ah, the bracket creep. Sorry, my mistake.
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Mububban
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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Mububban » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:42 pm

This ties into the thread on autonomous vehicles and the effectiveness of their current and future sensor arrays.

I imagine these beacons will be tiny. If it helps me get to my destination safely while cycling around the inevitable autonomous cars, I'll do it with no hesitation. If we can drop the rate of autonomous car vs cyclist accidents from 0.00001% to 0% I'll put one on my bike and say thankyou.
My wife and kids don't particularly care about my views on the primacy of the motor ehicles or the funding of cycling infrastructure. They just want me home in one piece. So do I for that matter.

And I'd trust an autonomous vehicle and a beacon more than I trust current human operated vehicles!
When you are driving your car, you are not stuck IN traffic - you ARE the traffic!!!

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby human909 » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:38 pm

Mububban wrote:This ties into the thread on autonomous vehicles and the effectiveness of their current and future sensor arrays.

I imagine these beacons will be tiny. If it helps me get to my destination safely while cycling around the inevitable autonomous cars, I'll do it with no hesitation. If we can drop the rate of autonomous car vs cyclist accidents from 0.00001% to 0% I'll put one on my bike and say thankyou.
My wife and kids don't particularly care about my views on the primacy of the motor ehicles or the funding of cycling infrastructure. They just want me home in one piece. So do I for that matter.

And I'd trust an autonomous vehicle and a beacon more than I trust current human operated vehicles!
Thank you for so keenly jump down the slippery slope head first! Just how well has worked out so far.

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby Mububban » Fri Mar 23, 2018 10:51 pm

human909 wrote: Thank you for so keenly jump down the slippery slope head first! Just how well has worked out so far.
Slippery slope arguments are generally bull****
When you are driving your car, you are not stuck IN traffic - you ARE the traffic!!!

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Re: All cyclists will need to fit detection beacons, says cycle industry boss

Postby fat and old » Sat Mar 24, 2018 7:39 am

Meh, when the tech is there I’ll use it happily. And I’ll personally pay for and fit one to the first tree I see powering along the road :lol: Then I’ll kill it...to prove it exists.

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