I think you mean,
“Careful about those machine gun jokes, Blue”

Kickass! Your device sounds great and I would love to own one myself.

Thinking of features…

A rocket launcher
Machine gun
Flame thrower

Okay, okay, just kidding.

I think it would be useful for the distance measurement to be recorded in association with the audio clip. Particularly in states where cars are required to provide 3 feet of clearance, such a measurement would be pretty good evidence that the vehicle violated the traffic law. Although, I would agree that a video clip associated with the distance measurement may be more bulletproof.

I like other uses of this information as well…
I would love to be alerted that a rear approaching vehicle has trespassed certain (user defined) distances.
- An LED could illuminate or a speaker could announce when a vehicle is within a first range, thereby alleviating me from having to check my mirror every 5 seconds.
- Once alerted, it would be great for the distance to be displayed, ideally in or near my rearview mirror. (I suppose with the distance information and a clock, other information could be given to the cyclist, such as the relative speed of the vehicle, or the approximate time until the vehicle passes)
- Another announcement/warning could be made if the vehicle was too close.

However, your device may only detect lateral distance of a passing vehicle and so all these ideas are in left field.

Perhaps my intuition is wrong, but I have always assumed that the cyclists that are killed from rear approaching motorists were not aware of the vehicle’s trajectory or imminence.

Good Luck and let us know about your result or progress.

Ringer: Guthrie’s 2008 salary is $770,000. That’s more money than I’ll make this year for sure!

I’ve got this idea for a electronic gadget
that would not only incorporate an ultrasonic
rangefinder (for determining objectively how
close cars pass you) but would also continually
record audio (possibly video) but would discard
most of it until and unless you hit a button,
when it remembers the last minute or three,
permanently. It also continues to record until
you make it stop. The intent is to capture the
harassment and insults of passing motorists
afterwards, and to give me an opportunity to
read off the license plate and commit it
to something better than my memory, while
being basically hands-free.

It turns out that accelerometers and
altimeters are only on the order of $15
bucks at the component level. One of
the things I would add (for my own bike
geekiness) would be logging of stats
of the whole ride, including percent grade.
A temperature sensor is fairly cheap and
easy as well.

It occurs to me, that the accelerometer
could be used to turn on brake lights
automatically while slowing.

I will try to also incorporate video
recording, but that promises to be
more difficult than just audio.

I also have an idea how the same ultrasonic
gear that is used to determine passing
distance of cars, can be used to determine
the amount of relative headwind (if you
subtract off speed, you might get actual
windspeed along your line of travel).

One more thing, …. a ‘dead man’ type of
switch … if the accelerometer detects
too much of an impact, it will commit the
last minute or so to permanent memory, and
continue recording till shut off.

So I guess I am soliciting input from all
you bike commuters, on what electronic and
computer features you might find useful
and desirable in such a gadget.

I can make no promises about incorporating
any particular suggestion, other than that
I will consider it. I’ve got a tight time
limit of a couple more months for the
hardware design to be complete.

Thanks in advance for your considered
comments and suggestions.

If folks want to email rather than comment
here …. you can reach me at …
cbb_pic.20.ohio_biker at spamgourmet.com

How can we get more Joe six-packs to learn
about this and realize that cyclists belong
on the road.

I am impressed with the cold-weather riding.
I’ve ridden below freezing, and it was just
a slog, trying for nothing more than survival
and arrival.