At CYCL, we love cycling and that's why we love WingLights - handlebar mounted turn signals for bicycles. With one tap, they flash bright amber and emphasise your turning intentions when used in addition to hand signals. They also help increase your all round visibility to other road users.
Since we launched in 2015 we have sold over 100,000 pairs of WingLights around the world which have prevented many potential near misses and possible accidents from occurring.
Whilst seasoned cyclists may feel confident and stable enough to signal using their hands, for many beginner or unsure cyclists WingLights can give that extra level of security knowing their turning intentions are super clear to other road users. WingLights use similar position and signal lighting as on other vehicles so build on existing relationships between road users.
In fact, a recent study conducted by Brunel University showed increased caution in approach by drivers when handlebar lights are used to show the presence of a bicycle (Bishop, Broadbent, Sachdeva & Patel, 2020). This demonstrates that additional light recommendations may be able to address safety concerns directly.
The UK National Travel Survey (2019) revealed that 60% of respondents felt it was "too dangerous... to cycle on the roads". This is unsurprising given the high proportion of road crashes were cyclists are involved. Cyclists are also 29 times more likely to sustain an injury than car drivers and 10 times more likely to be fatally injured. Evidence suggests that crashes between cyclists and other road users are more likely to occur in low light conditions (Asgarzadeh et al., 2018), and are less likely to occur when cyclists use safety lights (Høye, Johansson, & Hesjevoll, 2020)
In the Brunel study: "Bicycle Safety Lights and Driving Behaviour: A Real-World Pilot Study" by Brunel University (Bishop, Broadbett, Sachdeva & Patel, 2020) the influence of various bicycle mounted safety lights on driver behaviour in relation to a cyclist was studied. The research showed that drivers were slower to approach cyclist when handlebar end lights (WingLights 360) were being used. (Bishop, Broadbent, Sachdeva & Patel, 2020)
The results showed that drivers were slower to approach the cyclist when handlebar end lights were being used, relative to seat post light, and helmet light. Concluding that handlebar mounted safety lights "may elicit more cautious approach behaviour in drivers, which has the potential to improve driver-cyclist interactions and therefore cyclist safety".
WingLights and electric scooters
While the Brunel study was conducted using a bicycle, WingLights are also suitable for use on electric scooters where rear facing lights are often on the main body of the scooter and therefore lower in eye level relative to other road users. The use of handlebar position safety lights (such as WingLights 360) on e-scooters not only help increase all round visibility but can possibly lead to a more cautious approach from other road users.
Signalling is also an issue on e-scooters that can be resolved with the use of WingLights which we discuss in detail in our blog "How to Signal on an E-Scooter?" Taking your hands away from the handlebars on an e-scooter, like you do when signalling on a bicycle, can make the rider unstable and possibly lose balance. Therefore using WingLights handlebar mounted indicators can make your turning intentions clear to other road users.