See.Sense partners with Newham borough to aid ‘15-minute neighbourhood’ project 

Cycling tech brand See.Sense has partner with the London Borough of Newham to help support the ‘15-minute neighbourhood’ project there. 

See.Sense, an intelligent bike light brand that collects user data to help improve road safety and infrastructure, has provided 200 Newham residents with its lights, to help guide the Romford Road Active Travel scheme in the area. 

The brand’s lights can be paired with the See.Sense smartphone app to collect rider data, which is then anonymised and shared with the local authority. 

Beccy Marston, head of projects at See.Sense, said: “There’s been strong interest from local cyclists who are keen to contribute to the project and enhance their visibility on the road.”

Philip McAleese, CEO of See.Sense, added: “We’re pleased to work with the London Borough of Newham on this scheme. Our data can identify issues and evaluate the scheme’s impact in a data-led manner, supporting the shift towards safer and more connected cycling routes.” 

The information collected from this project will assist Newham in enhancing pedestrian and cycling routes along the critical Romford Road corridor. The project intends to tackle long standing issues concerning the quality of pavements, obtrusive pavement parking, and the overall appearance of Romford Road to make it more accessible and appealing for pedestrians and cyclists. 

Data points gathered by See.Sense include popular cycling routes, near miss incidents, crash events, rapid speed changes, swerving, road surface conditions, and average speeds. Riders also have the option to report specific issues via the app, fostering a safer cycling environment. 

The aggregated data will be made accessible through a user-friendly dashboard, providing the Newham Highways Team with a valuable resource for monitoring the Romford Road Corridor improvements as well as to help identifying where there is a need to improve roads and connections for cyclists. The data will also help facilitate engagement with riders in order to provide encouragement and share project updates.  

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Senior project manager at the London Borough of Newham, Martina Gabrilelli, said: “The Smart Cycling Project offers a unique opportunity for Newham’s citizens and the council to work together to better understand cycling behaviour and safety in the Romford Road area. This type of data would be difficult to capture by other means, and will really help boost our monitoring and evaluation of the scheme, as well as inform the design and maintenance of Newham cycling infrastructure, improve safety and ultimately enable more people to cycle with data-led evaluation.”