Transport of London (TfL) has partnered with a start-up firm Blaze to trial new flash bike lights, which reflect a laser image of a bike onto the road surface, alerting drivers of any cyclists riding in their blind spot at night.

The frames of 250 Boris bikes were fitted with the blaze lights. The trial will last for approximately ten weeks, reported City AM.

Designed by Bethnal Green start-up Blaze founder Emily Brooke, the flash lights project a laser image of a bicycle 6m in front of the cyclists on the road surface, which will alert drivers.

"We will be robustly testing both the technology, its effectiveness and people’s opinions of it during the trial and hope to make a further update later this year."

Blaze chief operating officer Phil Ellis was quoted by City AM saying: "Personal safety is still the biggest barrier to cycling. We designed the Blaze Laserlight to actively reduce collisions and near misses by giving cyclists a larger footprint on the road, and helping them be seen in situations where they are otherwise invisible."

The transport department and the Transport Research Laboratory conducted tests, which indicated that the light made 96% of cyclists visible to bus drivers and was better than LED lights.

Cycling is becoming a popular means of transport, and more than half a million journeys are being made by bikes daily.

TfL general manager of Santander Cycles James Mead was quoted by Standard.co.uk saying: "As part of our wider work to make London’s roads safer for cyclists, we have worked closely with Serco and Santander to undertake a small trial of Blaze Laserlights, which alert drivers to an approaching cyclist in the blind spot at night time.

"This is the first time it has been built directly into the frame of a hire bike. We will be robustly testing both the technology, its effectiveness and people’s opinions of it during the trial and hope to make a further update later this year."

If this experiment turns successful, Transport for London intends to retrofit the lights into all 11,500 hire bikes in London.