Nite-Ize SpokeLit LED Spoke Light bicycles and bicycle parts

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Aug 2, 2012 · , sent to the company Aug 21, 2012 · , published by CPSC Sep 12, 2012

   The product, in the report: “SpokeLit” are bike lights that attach to the spokes of bicycle wheels. They allow a bike to be seen by someone perpendicular to the bike’s path of travel. Overall, I think these products enhance safety, but my concern is specifically with the GREEN version of these lights.

   Below is the letter I sent to the President of the company, NiteIze, that made the products in question. It describes the incident and my concerns with their product in the GREEN color. ------------

   July 30, 2012

   [REDACTED]

   CC: Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumers Union, Amazon

   Dear [REDACTED],

   I’ve come to the conclusion that your Nite Ize Spokelit Bicycle Light, Green Color, is inherently unsafe, should be discontinued, and recalled. Allow me to explain how I came to that conclusion. Please give serious consideration to the appropriate action for you and your company.

   I ride my bike a LOT. I often put more miles on it than on my car. It is the primary way I get to work, and other places I go, except during winter.

   A year or two back my wife purchased a pair of the SpokeLit bike lights (color red/multi) at the local Wal-Mart. I tried them out and I thought they worked great. My family and I own several bikes, so I went online to order more. I noticed the different colors offered and researched that online. Lots of people mentioned that the green ones seem the brightest, so I ordered two of the green lights in May 2011, then another 6 in July 2011 – all from Amazon. (See attached photo.)

   This evening I was riding home from work after dark. I was in the bike lane of Camino Del Norte in San Diego, heading EAST, crossing under the I-15 overpass. The traffic light was green, and cars were going parallel to me in the roadway. The cars were going the same direction I was, crossing the intersection in front of the freeway off ramp which I was approaching and was to my right.

   As I started to cross in front of the off ramp, the front car in the lane of the off ramp closest to me, started to accelerate just as I crossed in front of him. The car next to him in the other lane also started to move slightly. When this occurred I immediately hit my brakes and skid to a stop. The drivers also quickly stopped. There was no collision, just a near miss.

   This event seemed completely nonsensical to me. I couldn’t imagine why he would start spontaneously accelerating just as I started to cross in front of him. I visually confirmed that he had a red light, and cars continued to cross the intersection just as I was about to do. The driver closest to me gave me an apologetic look. He didn’t seem like a mean, angry, or malicious person. He seemed as confused by this as I did, and he seemed apologetic based on his facial expression and hand motions.

   I conveyed this story to my wife after I got home evening and then it hit me, I had a blinking GREEN light on my front wheel! It was about 8:30PM, after dark, and this guy was probably pretty tired (like me), coming home after a long day at work. Out of the corner of his eye he sees GREEN, and goes. He then realizes that the green light is on a bike, NOT the traffic signal, and he stops as soon as he can.

   I’m not an expert on consumer safety, but I think making a GREEN bike light to mount on a bike wheel is inherently unsafe since a driver seeing a green light ahead of them will have a tendency to take their foot off the brakes and go, just as occurred this evening.

   The advantage of these wheel lights over conventional bicycle headlights and tail lights is that they allow a driver perpendicular to the bicycle to see it! This is typically an issue in intersections when a bike is crossing the intersection. In such a situation, a green light is the WORST thing for them to see since their automatic reaction will be to go. Obviously, a normal driver would not do that once they thought about it, but as you know, in traffic split seconds matter, especially when you are on a bike.

   So, my request is:

   1. Please exchange my 8 Green SpokeLit lights for 8 Red ones. 2. Please discontinue production of all GREEN bike lights. 3. Please consider a recall of the GREEN bike wheel lights.

   Thank you,

   [REDACTED]

   Model

   Nite-Ize SpokeLit LED Spoke Light

   Bought from

   Amazon

   Bought

   Jul 11, 2011

   Where

   San Diego, California: Street or Highway

   Who was involved

   Age 45, Male

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand Nite-Ize SpokeLit LED Spoke Light, made or sold by Nite Ize, Inc

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources