LifePaint spray is Volvo's safety offer for cyclists

LifePaint spray is Volvo’s safety offer for cyclists

For cyclists sharing the road at dark with cars and pedestrians, a useful motto is to stay safe by staying seen. Volvo, which continues to build on its brand of safety-first, has come out with LifePaint. The car manufacturer is now taking its safety-first identity beyond the driver and riders in the car and extending safety measures to those on bikes. Every year in the UK over 19,000 cyclists are involved in accidents, said a promotional video for LifePaint.

In a statement, Nick Connor, managing director at Volvo Car UK, said: ""At Volvo, we believe that the best way to survive a crash is not to crash, and are committed to making the roads a safer place by reducing the number of accidents." He said Volvo now was extending its reach beyond just those driving its cars. "By making cyclists increasingly visible as well as increasing the safety capabilities of our cars, we are doing our utmost to protect everyone on the road."

The idea behind LifePaint is to make the invisible visible. LifePaint is a reflective safety spray that the cyclist can use on clothing. It shines brightly in the glare of headlights. The spray is invisible in daylight but light-reflective in the dark. The spray reflects in the same direction as the light source. When you spray it the reflective particles stick together, making it very hard for you to be missed—as shown in the video. The spray works well on textiles such as fleece, cotton and wool. LifePaint washes off and will not affect the color or surface of the material. It lasts for about a week after application. For now, LifePaint is available in select stores in London, said a UPI report from Brooks Hays, but if the product proves popular enough it may be offered elsewhere.

Volvo produced this in collaboration with Albedo100, which makes reflective paint products. In the bigger picture, cyclists can add LifePaint to a generous list of options by different vendors for keeping safe. Writing in Gizmag, Nick Lavars noted that the question of how cyclists can be made easier to see, particularly at night, has turned up "wide-ranging and innovative responses. From LED systems that light up the rims to serve as tail and headlights, to entire bicycle frames that glow in the dark, nervy night time have a growing number of options to help make them more visible to drivers."

Henry Robertshaw on Monday in Cycling Weekly called up another advantage to having LifePaint as a cyclist's safety option. "High-vis clothing certainly has its uses to help keep you seen on the road at night, however, let's face it, it's not the most stylish thing to be wearing, especially during the day."

More information: www.volvolifepaint.com/

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Citation: LifePaint spray is Volvo's safety offer for cyclists (2015, March 30) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://techxplore.com/news/2015-03-lifepaint-volvo-safety-cyclists.html
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