The Silver Bullet

One definition of a ’silver bullet’ is a seemingly magical solution to a complicated problem.

I have had two conversations recently with civil servants who appear to be searching for technology that is, in the above definition, the silver bullet for cycle safety.

Not that I have ever advocated that our technology is such, but it got me thinking.  Can any technology that has such human intervention be a silver bullet?  Plainly not yet and especially when applied to the issue of cycle safety and technology.    So why are they searching for it?

I believe that as more technology emerges they confuse innovation with overall solution.  For example, innovation such as our technology, traffic lights communicating with vehicles and other road users, intelligent road transportation and driverless cars are all innovation and make up what is known as the Internet of Things.   The Wiki definition for the Internet of Things is reproduced below:

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure.  The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the Auto-ID Center at MIT and related market analysis publications. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) was seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things in the early days. If all objects and people in daily life were equipped with identifiers, they could be managed and inventoried by computers. Besides using RFID, the tagging of things may be achieved through such technologies as near field communication, barcodes, QR codes and digital watermarking.  In its original interpretation, one of the first consequences of implementing the Internet of Things by equipping all objects in the world with minuscule identifying devices or machine-readable identifiers would be to transform daily life in several positive ways.

We, as a company, are already part of the Internet of Things, working with the GLA and EU on a European project entitled, iCity and we share many of the visions, but it’s just the beginning. It is a journey that can only happen through innovation and people like us starting projects such as Cycle Alert,  launching new technology into areas where technology has not been previously applied.

The very obvious and inescapable cliché is ‘…you have to start somewhere…’

That start of the snowball within the cycle safety environment will lead to increased awareness, increased education of cyclists and drivers.  Moreover, it will encourage manufacturers, developers and other entreprenuers to pursue change for the better and thus make our roads safer.

A take away thought is to consider whether The Silver Bullet is actually a product at all.   I would argue it is more likely a person or a moment in time that enables the beginning to happen, the person who allows the innovation to start somewhere.  Indeed, products and technology evolve and silver bullets are not just purchased off the shelf.