Volo Lights Brake Light Indicator

Almost half of a motorcycle’s weight is engine, but a car’s engine is closer to being a mere 15 percent. Therefore, a motorcycle decelerates much faster on closed throttle than does a car and faster yet when downshifted. Yet no brake light is shown when these things occur because conventional brake lights are triggered only by brake-line hydraulic pressure.

Engineer Faizal Ali confronted these realities on a San Diego freeway when a following car nearly over-ran him as he downshifted for an exit ramp. His solution is a license-plate frame containing red LEDs, an accelerometer array and a logic unit. When deceleration occurs, the unit warns following vehicles by flashing the LEDs twice per second for moderate slowing rates and at a more urgent five flashes per second for rapid deceleration.

The device is not yet in production, but you can get updates at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vololights/vololights-enhanced-motorcycle-visibility.