University of Oxford: Research to assess the potential benefits of Brainy Bike Lights® over standard bike lights
“Experimental research from the University of Oxford on a revolutionary new bike light demonstrates its ability to give rise to quicker and more accurate identification of cyclists by drivers of motorised vehicles than conventional bike lights”.
Professor Charles Spence, University of Oxford
Three experiments were conducted at the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford to explore the potential power of an illuminated symbol bike light versus standard bike lights:
Experiment 1: Speeded Discrimination Task
This tested the speed and accuracy at which participants were able to detect and identify a variety of lights including front and rear Brainy Bike Lights® Bike Symbol Lights, front and rear standard bike lights, car headlights and rear lights and front and rear motorbike lights on the road in video footage of an urban scene, at night.
Experiment 2: Visual Search Task
This tested participants’ ability to detect the presence or absence of Brainy Bike Lights® as opposed to standard bike lights in still shots of multiple lights.
Experiment 3: Subjective Assessment of Priming Effect
This tested the impact of Brainy Bike Lights® as opposed to standard bike lights in terms of the perceptions and impressions triggered by the different type of lights.
“The results revealed a significant performance advantage for the Brainy Bike Lights® in terms of faster reaction times. There were also fewer misses and misidentification errors with the Brainy Bike Lights® from traditional bike lights.
These results were further supported by questionnaire data in which the participants consistently evaluated the Brainy Bike Lights® more favourably in terms of potential safety benefits than traditional bike lights.
Taken together, these findings therefore provide evidence to support the claim that a cyclist using Brainy Bike Lights® rather than traditional bike lights will be likely to facilitate a driver’s awareness of the presence of a cyclist, as well as more likely to prime thoughts of cyclist vulnerability in the mind of other road users”.
Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford