270,000 Deaths Too Many: Visibility Is Vital
Online, June 19, 2014 (Newswire.com) - We see it on our commute every single day: the runner with the silver reflectors on her shoes; the bicyclist in the share lane with a red light mounted on his seat; or the construction worker donning the all-too-familiar orange mesh vest. These are all solutions in the visibility safety industry. And despite these solutions, there are still over 270,000 pedestrians killed on roads every year across the world, according to the World Health Organization. Kevin Winzer and Seth McBee, of You Saw Me have invented the Verve and developed a solution that aims to "revolutionize the way we perceive visibility safety".
The Verve is an innovative safety solution that integrates 60 waterproof LEDs into a lightweight embodiment that claims to be visible from the front and the back from over one mile away. The fun, yet functional safety vest has an ANSI certified retroreflective outer layer with embedded LEDs that can either be steady, flash, or dimmed, and are powered by a 9V battery that lasts for over 30 hours of continuous use. The vests are fully waterproof and machine washable, and include a front and back pocket for cell phones, keys, IDs, or money. Their RGB Verve has 20 steady-state colors and 19 color-changing modes.
In October, 2013, impelled by the granting of US and international utility patents, McBee resigned from his position as a nuclear engineer and took to Lexington, Kentucky to couchsurf with his former college roommate to give the Verve the full-time attention it deserved. Equipped only with prototypes built in Winzer's basement, McBee won several "Shark Tank" style pitch contests, one including a $25,000 investment from an angel group within 4 months; he set up manufacturing in Liberty, Kentucky, utilizing former Oshkosh seamstresses that were out of work when the company moved manufacturing to Taiwan; and he launched the unveiling of the world's first ever waterproof, customizable safety vest.
You Saw Me's Kickstarter campaign ends on June 25, 2014, where it hopes to generate $30,000 in pledges. Check out their content and support their product and mission: "visibility safety meets cool; customizability meets versatility; brighter is better; you saw me".