More and more Belgians are using their bike for both recreational and commuting purposes, especially in cities. In the Belgian capital Brussels this lead to an increase of +64% cyclists in 2020. However, infrastructure is lagging behind. Government investments are unable to follow the sharp increase of cyclists, resulting in unfit and dangerous situations for all road users.

This led to a rise of fatal accidents involving cyclists with 25%. In most cases, the blind spot is one of the main causes of serious or fatal bicycle accidents.

As far back as 2004, Volvo already tried to deal with this problem by creating the first blind spot detector. Today, with the increasing number of cyclists on city roads, we found it appropriate to highlight the importance of its BLIS (Blind Spot Information) system once more.

By using an everyday medium in an unexpected way, we turned an otherwise plain media touchpoint into a helpful tool that adds value to our consumers lives and everyday experiences, making Volvo’s safety vision relevant to its target audience in an entirely new way.

We’ve installed sensors on top of a DOOH to detect all movement in the street and filter cyclists from a distance of 45 meters, allowing to activate an animation on the DOOH through a compact PC that controls the screen on the DOOH.

As soon as a cyclist approached, a 3D animation in real time appeared accompanied by a warning sign for the drivers. Both the distance to the DOOH and the speed of the cyclist are displayed synchronously in this animation. An extra warning is displayed when the cyclist is about to cross the side street, urging the driver to stop before turning right.