A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to talk to Tom de Pelet, who is the creator of The Hornit, the worlds loudest cycle horn, and I was able to get my hands on one of the best innovations in cycling safety since the bicycle helmet!

The Hornit

I have lost count of the times where I have been cycling around London only to have cars swerve in front of me, lorries turn left without indicating and pedestrians walking out into the road without event noticing the bloke with the flashing lights all over his body. Any cyclist will know these are the kind of dangers that we face every day and any commuter who has been cycling for a few months will have had their share fair of near missed and horror stories to tell. My personal favourite consists of an episode in london where I was squeezed in-between two Range Rover Sport cars and had to pedal at a speed which I am sure is close to 50mph in order to get out infront of them before the gap closed and I met an untimely end on the Clapham expressway!

Before I go onto explain what a great gadget The Hornit is, I just want to bring a few frightening facts to your attention:

There were 111 cyclists killed in the UK last year, with 16 of those being in the London.
There were over 17,000 cyclist either injured or seriously injured in 2010
80% of accidents occur in daylight
57% of accidents involving motorists are due to the fact that the motorist failed to look properly

These facts lead us to a very important conclusion, over 9000 injuries and deaths on UK roads in 2010 were due to a driver failing to notice a cyclist. The fact that most of the accidents were in daylight is as equally as frightening as during the day high visabilty clothing and lights aren’t as effective and so the cyclist needs another tool. This is where the Hornit comes in. The Hornit means cyclists can actively let drivers/pedestrians know they’re in the vicinity even when they haven’t been seen. Cyclists now have a way to get people’s attention, rather than passively relying on being seen, which makes riding much safer as a result.

I had the pleasure of being able to try out one of The Hornit cycle horns over the past few weeks and have been using it on my training rides every weekend. My usual route takes me out through some pretty busy towns before I break into the country side and this is where The Hornit really comes into its own.

Emitting a powerful 140db horn The Hornit never fails to get you noticed. There have been quite a few puzzled looks from motorists as I shoot past them after using the horn as I guess most of them are surprised that a cyclist can make such a noise, but this just proves even more that the Horn has been heard.

if the 140db horn is too much, you can quickly and easily change the sound to a much higher pitched and quieter ‘pedestrian friendly’ horn. Personally I prefer keeping things as loud as possible but I guess if you were cycling down a pedestrianised zone (not that you should be on a bike!) then you don’t really want to give the old lady who dares to walk in front of you having a heart attack and/or dropping her shopping!

The Hornit is easily installed and has an adjustable mount kit which works in the same way as Cat Eye lights (if anyone used those!). The Horn is controlled using a button that attached to your actual handlebar grips for easy reach and can be removed or adjusted at will until you find a place that works for you.

Everything that you need is supplied in the box, including the batteries and allen key, so there is no danger of dying as you cycle to the shop to pick up some triple A’s!

Available at http://thehornit.com