ATV: As you can see, the road can be pretty dangerous, especially when a few risk factors come into play. I’m wearing dark clothing, I have no reflective accessories, and it’s generally dark. Here’s a little fact: when I’m out on the road in these conditions, drivers can only see me from about 25 meters away. If I were wearing reflective clothing or it were brighter, they could see me from up to 140 meters away—giving both of us significantly more time to react.
So we’ve established that I’m in a dangerous situation. A Vienna-based entrepreneur has learned firsthand just how dangerous the roads can be and has made road safety his personal mission.
I’m meeting entrepreneur Stefan Reichlin—where else?—at dusk. That’s when his story began, too.
Stefan Reichlin: A year and a half ago, my daughter and I were nearly hit by a car at an intersection while riding our bikes with a bike trailer. The driver said he simply hadn’t seen us because of the parked cars. That same evening, I went online and researched products that could make me more visible in traffic—and found nothing like that. That was the spark that inspired me to launch this project. I left behind 20 years in the real estate industry and have been devoting myself entirely to this startup ever since.
About 50 prototypes later, we can take a closer look at his idea.
ATV: It’s gotten dark pretty quickly—but this is the perfect light to show off your product. How do you use it, how does it work, and what makes it special?
Stefan Reichlin: After more than a year of research, we had to find the right materials for a light-signal system that is both sturdy and flexible. It has a rechargeable battery that you can easily charge at home via USB-C. The attachment system requires no tools and works with every type of bicycle. The product is designed to sit high enough to be visible above parked cars as you ride past—that was our main mission. An average SUV is about 1.80 meters tall, while our “Lumi” sits at around 2 meters. You can also add another module to raise it to 2.50 meters.
A test on site shows: The flagpoles on trailers, which are required by law to be at least 1.50 meters tall, can often be hard to see.
Stefan Reichlin: This bike trailer with this pennant was involved in that near-miss because we simply weren’t visible through the car’s windows. What’s more, the car’s headlights didn’t reach the reflective surface, so the driver simply couldn’t see it. This solves that problem for our trailers.
ATV: Whether walking or cycling, only just over a third of people in these groups are well-equipped to be visible in the evening. It’s especially dangerous when you step onto the road from between parked cars, for example. Stefan’s literal bright idea, LuMe, could help address this in the future.
Watch the full ATV report here
