18 Sep 2014 |

BikeShield App – Making Safer Roads for Motorcyclists?

The aptly named BikeShield App, a new smartphone app is able to monitor the position of cyclists/motorcyclists and drivers, then sounds an alarm before drivers can even see a bike in their mirrors telling them that one is nearby.

The aptly named BikeShield App, a new smartphone app is able to monitor the position of cyclists/motorcyclists and drivers, then sounds an alarm before drivers can even see a bike in their mirrors telling them that one is nearby.

Could this new app be the answer to avoiding a road accidents by creating vehicle to vehicle communication and making for safer roads?

That's what this free to download app aims to do by creating a safer environment for cyclists and bikers and alerting car drivers to their presence, often before the biker in question is even visible to the driver.

The BikeShield App uses the GPS built into smartphones and works differently based on what vehicle you're driving. If you're a biker, all surrounding cars that have activated the app will hear an alarm around five to ten seconds before they can see or hear you.

The BikeShield App is automatically activated by a car accelerometer and drivers can carefully navigate past the bikers or cyclists whose presence they have been alerted to. Due to the logistical limitations of cyclists, however, they do not receive warnings. Instead, they have the option of viewing the safest available routes based on the number of motorists using the app on any particular road. BikeShield alerts are available as sound effects or voice messages.

Pere Margleft, one of the designers of the new BikeShield App has this to say "You've probably had the experience that you're driving your car, and all of the sudden a motorcycle passes you on the left, fast,"  "You think if you'd just decided to change lanes, you would have hit this guy. So I thought, what if somehow before I even see him, I know that he's coming?"

Whilst this app could be really effective, it relies on everyone both drivers and motorcyclists alike to download it in order for the idea to work, but it is free and anything that can make the roads a safer place must be worth a try – what do you think?