Brighton University graduate Emily Brooke is to light up New York with her Blaze Laserlight cycle safety light.
They are being fitted to 250 bicycles used in New York’s Citi Bike rental programme – similar to Boris bikes in London which also use the lights.
Brighton University said: “The light is designed to make riders more visible to drivers and pedestrians by projecting a bike symbol six metres in front of the cyclist.
“It has been hailed as a major breakthrough in safety and is now selling in dozens of countries round the world.”
Emily Brooke graduated from the university in 2011 in product design with professional experience and the Laserlight was her final year project. She has since won a number of awards for her idea.
Brighton University added: “The New York initiative also aims to grow ridership among women. Studies have shown they are more likely to ride in safer traffic environments with features like protected bike lanes and one-way streets.”
The company that operates the Citi Bike scheme, Motivate, said that results in London indicated that this outcome was likely.
Motivate chief executive Jay Walder said: “By incorporating Blaze’s lights into the bike we aim to keep New Yorkers on foot, behind the wheel and riding a Citi Bike safer and to improve the rider experience overall so that people of all backgrounds are inspired to try New York City’s popular bike share programme.
“Bike share is an extremely safe way to get around and we are proud to work with Blaze to welcome every rider to Citi Bike while helping our city get ever closer to our ‘vision zero’ goals.”
Vision zero is a programme aimed at reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries to zero on America’s roads.
