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Rear-End Accidents Make Up One Third of all car accidents

These are car accident statistics C2 Innovations hopes will help sell the high-tech, $150 SAFElights they are rolling out this summer.

The technology combines a pulsating LED light with a light sensor that trips the light when a car driver hits the brakes. Mercedes-Benz has installed LED technology in the braking systems of its S600 series and claims the attention-getting flashes add 13 to 20 1/2 feet to the average stopping distances of drivers following behind these cars, depending on their speed.

"That extra burst of light increases the drivers' reaction time," said Ten Ciuba, a UT MBA student who is developing a marketing plan for the product, now owned by MK Technologies, a Knoxville engineering firm.

Unlike Mercedes' technology, SAFElights can be installed in any car by the owners themselves.

The original technology was developed about five years ago at the University of Tennessee by three students in UT's joint MBA/engineering program and under the tutelage of the late UT professor and inventor Frank Speckhart. The device used a mechanical ball to sense rapid deceleration and trip the LED.

Last year, local businessman and MK Technologies owner Mike Carroll bought the company and has been working to improve the technology, set up production partnerships and launch a marketing and sales effort around the product.

Next-generation SAFElights will employ solid state sensors that are more accurate than the original devices. They will be available for sale probably by August, Ciuba said.

He acknowledged that the brake light product's $150 price tag, compared to just a few dollars for typical replacement brake lights, makes SAFElights an interesting sales proposition.

"It's an unknown product," Ciuba said. "It takes some explaining, so it's kind of challenging."

The number-one pitch is safety, he said, since rear-end accidents are so common and most people experience whiplash as a result.

"We're also trying to show that there are financial costs," he said, such as insurance premium increases and an average 6-8 week loss of work associated with whiplash injuries.

One side benefit to the LED lights is that they will last "forever" - at least in car terms-Ciuba said. The average brake bulb burns 500 hours. SAFElights can last more than 10,000 hours.

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