The University of Arizona and Arizona State University are collaborating with the Rob Dollar Foundation on a new device that’s designed to help bicyclists stay safer on the roads.
The device, called the Cycle Safe, replaces the handlebar plugs on bicycles with an array of sensors that detect when a vehicle passes within three feet of the rider.
Arizona law requires that motor vehicles sharing the road with a cyclist grant at least three feet of clearance as a safety precaution to avoid a potential collision, something that the Rob Dollar Foundation has been trying to raise awareness for since it was founded in 2017.
Doctor Daniel Latt, who’s an associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Arizona, said the Cycle Safe is essentially a “dash cam” for cyclists.
“It senses when a vehicle approaches closer than three feet to the left handlebar of the bicycle,” he said, “and has audio/visual warning and begins recording a video to capture the license plate of the vehicle, along with the time and location of the event.”
He said that in 2019, he proposed the idea to UA as an engineering capstone project and began to work on it for a few years before meeting John Dollar, who took interest in the device.
“We decided this would be a natural partnership,” he said.
Latt said that while UA had a working prototype of the device itself, the team only had “rudimentary software,” so Dollar brought in a friend at ASU — professor Robert Heinrichs, who began working on it as a master student project.
He also said that while users will be able to upload data from the device to local law enforcement, the bigger goal is to improve overall road safety by gathering new data that can then inform policy decisions related to cyclist safety.
“We don’t really know how many close calls there are, and how many incidents that don’t result in an ambulance coming out, or in death,” he said.
He said the Rob Dollar Foundation, which will host the database, hopes the data produced by users will reveal potential hotspots where cyclists are routinely endangered so that more adequate safeguards can be put in place.
The device itself, Latt said, will have a LiDAR sensor that can detect oncoming vehicles, and a forward-facing camera that captures images of the vehicle and its license plate. He said the battery, which is rechargeable, will be on the right handlebar to help with weight distribution.
John Dollar, who started the Rob Dollar Foundation after his son was killed in a bicycle accident, said he’s excited for the device to come to fruition:
“This device is exciting, you know,” he said, “We’re just trying to make the roads safer for the cycling community. I think this will help with that.”
Dollar also said the students at both universities are enthusiastic about the project.
“We tell these kids ‘this device you’re working on, it’s not just a game; it’s going to save lives,’” he said, “They know the importance of what they do and they’re all very motivated to do what they do.”
He also said that while he thinks the device is going to help cyclists a lot, it’s still important for drivers to stop seeing cyclists as “just a bicycle.”
“It’s someone’s mom, dad, brother, sister, that wants to come home to their family,” he said. “So have some patience, give them three feet when you pass, and let’s just keep the road safe for everybody.”
