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Paint yourself visible at night: Volvo develops new Life Paint for cyclistsLife Paint.png

Paint yourself visible at night: Volvo develops new Life Paint for cyclists

Claim your free limited edition can of Life Paint and colour yourself reflective as the clocks go forward
by Sarah Barth
Sat, Mar 28, 2015 09:47
41

Let’s face it, no-one likes wearing a day-glo vest with reflective strips - but to ride without one, especially on gloomy nights, is risky.

But what if your normal everyday clothes could become completely reflective at the push of a button?

Enter Life Paint, a new safety spray developed by Volvo, which they say is washable, completely transparent and only shows up in the beam of headlights.

LifePaint is a unique reflective safety spray which claims Volvo is aimed at increasing the visibility and safety of cyclists, and other vulnerable road users. Invisible by daylight, it glows brightly in the glare of car headlights, making the invisible, visible at night.

Though designed for safer cycling, LifePaint can be applied to any fabric — clothes, shoes, pushchairs, children’s backpacks — even dog leads and collars. It is transparent, washes off and will not affect the colour or surface of your chosen material, lasting for approximately one week after application.
 

LifePaint is being trialed in six London and Kent-based cycle shops, including Peloton in Spitalfields, where cyclists can get one of 2000 cans being given away.

If LifePaint proves popular, the project will expand nationally and internationally.

Volvo has a ‘2020 vision’ that “by 2020, no person will be killed, or seriously injured, by a new Volvo.”

To that end the company has been working on new anti-collision technology,  Intellisafe, a safety system which uses a combination of radar sensors and cameras to identify other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists and automatically brake if the driver fails to take the necessary action.

This works together with Volvo’s Active Bending Headlights, which adjust left to right according to the steering input to help see round corners better.

Adrian Walsh, Director of RoadSafe, said: “Driving a car is a complex and demanding task. In poor light conditions it becomes even harder, especially in towns and cities where the road is often shared with cyclists and pedestrians.

“This innovative technology will certainly help to make it a safer place and it is really encouraging to see a manufacturer reaching out to make pedestrians and cyclists less vulnerable.”

Nick Connor, Managing Director at Volvo Car UK, said: “Every year more than 19,000 cyclists are injured on the UK’s roads. 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.

“Volvo is a world-leader in safety technology, and we are proud to be extending our reach beyond just those driving our 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.”

Click here to find out where you can pick up your own can of Life Paint.

Volvo
urban safety
Safety
Reflectives
Life Paint

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41 comments

Avatar
rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes

Volvo cannot control the quality of their drivers and the courts don't seem to care either. They are bringing ideas to the table. If it takes off and they give them away for free, I'd take it. Technology is improving all the time, use it. You wouldn't cycle at night without lights, maybe in the future you wouldn't cycle without a transponder?
Yes the police should deal with rubbish drivers, but why can we not use some of this technology as well.
Why can't manufacturers make kids coats with reflective strips in them? Cycling or driving, the most common people to walk out in from of me without looking and 11-14 year olds (usually on their phone). Anything to help catch your eye is a good thing. I'm not saying arrest children.
If everyone was perfect, cars wouldn't have seatbelts or airbags, but they're now an accepted minimum. Lets use what is available to us rather than be a Luddite and fight it.

Avatar
rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes

A nice gesture I think, and perhaps the technology will be improved upon to last more than one week. Personally I think children's coats should legally have some reflective strips. It's not victim blaming it's helping and bringing something new to the table.
Volvo appear a responsible company with their 2020 vision and should be commended on their attitude, not berated.

Avatar
Mystery Machine replied to rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes

I don't have a problem with Volvo fitting additional safety systems to their vehicles, as long as they don't rely on additional equipment that has to be carried by other parties (as was proposed in the case of some 'safety' cyclist detection systems - what happens to those cyclists who don't carry the required transponders?).

However, relying on/requiring potential victims to take further steps is not okay. Do we require people to wear stab-proof vests in dodgy areas? No, the police should be out there catching the criminals, and the court system punishing them appropriately.

As for implementing an additional legal requirement re children's coats - I hope you are not suggesting that the police should have powers to stop and fine children/parents if they are not shiny enough (as is currently the case with bike lights). This would be yet another example of picking on the victims, and ignoring those who are the cause of the danger.

In any case, I would have serious concerns that a legal requirement applied to manufacturers would have the some effect of lessening the legal protection afforded to those who are not, for whatever reason, wearing the 'sanctioned' equipment. How would this be justifiable?

And Adrian Walsh of RoadSafe's comments stink too.

Avatar
FluffyKittenofT... replied to rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes
rowes wrote:

A nice gesture I think, and perhaps the technology will be improved upon to last more than one week. Personally I think children's coats should legally have some reflective strips. It's not victim blaming it's helping and bringing something new to the table.
Volvo appear a responsible company with their 2020 vision and should be commended on their attitude, not berated.

I presume you have the same approach to sex crimes as you do to road safety, so I guess you want to make burkhas compulsory also?

Avatar
oldstrath replied to rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes
rowes wrote:

A nice gesture I think, and perhaps the technology will be improved upon to last more than one week. Personally I think children's coats should legally have some reflective strips. It's not victim blaming it's helping and bringing something new to the table.
Volvo appear a responsible company with their 2020 vision and should be commended on their attitude, not berated.

If they were serious they'd only make cars out of balsa wood, capable only of 10 mph, and with no driver protection except the legally required seatbelt. This is just more blame-shifting.

Avatar
kie7077 replied to rowes | 9 years ago
0 likes
rowes wrote:

A nice gesture I think, and perhaps the technology will be improved upon to last more than one week. Personally I think children's coats should legally have some reflective strips. It's not victim blaming it's helping and bringing something new to the table.
Volvo appear a responsible company with their 2020 vision and should be commended on their attitude, not berated.

New safer lorries delayed until 2022 - BBC News
"The delay until 2022 is, in part, the result of a compromise deal after manufacturers such as Sweden's Volvo and France's Renault said the introduction of new cab sizes should be delayed"

They don't care about cyclists.

Avatar
johndonnelly replied to kie7077 | 9 years ago
0 likes
kie7077 wrote:

"The delay until 2022 is, in part, the result of a compromise deal after manufacturers such as Sweden's Volvo and France's Renault said the introduction of new cab sizes should be delayed"

They don't care about cyclists.

Volvo trucks and Volvo cars are very different organisations.

Avatar
kie7077 replied to johndonnelly | 9 years ago
0 likes
johndonnelly wrote:
kie7077 wrote:

"The delay until 2022 is, in part, the result of a compromise deal after manufacturers such as Sweden's Volvo and France's Renault said the introduction of new cab sizes should be delayed"

They don't care about cyclists.

Volvo trucks and Volvo cars are very different organisations.

Bah humbug, I am wrong, Volvo cars despite having the Volvo name and Volvo logo was owned by ford and sold to a Chinese firm.

Avatar
Kim | 9 years ago
0 likes

Volvo looks for new ways of blaming the victims when their products are misused...

This is about making cycling look dangerous, rather than dealing with the issue of dangerous driving. Volvo is only interested in making money out selling motor vehicle, not in reducing or mitigation the damage they do.

Avatar
gazza_d | 9 years ago
0 likes

A far better idea is to use it to paint messages on car bonnets...
"Put the f*cking phone away"
"Give cyclists room"... etc

Avatar
Mystery Machine | 9 years ago
0 likes

Bah. If this takes off, how long before we see police reports, news articles and insurance claim responses saying that "the pedestrian/cyclist was not covered in Life Paint".

Cases like that of Michael Mason already show that even the police (let alone courts, particularly juries) are willing to let motorists off after injuring and killing people who walk and bike if there is a suggestion that the victims were not helmeted / wearing high vis. In Mr Mason's case, the police deemed that the fact that he was using lights, and the motorist still hit him, wasn't enough to show even careless driving.

This product, and Volvo's statements, stinks of victim blaming. Not reflective enough? It's like going out in too short a skirt, innit? Only got yourself to blame for what happens, love...

How about cagers just look where they're going?

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