Release your inner stag: How to stop cars in their tracks

Cycling on urban roads can feel like a primordial battle, so it’s fitting that New York designer Taylor Simpson has devised a pair of bicycle handlebars that look like a stag’s antlers.

The black antlers are certainly eye-catching – they might even encourage drivers to look properly before pulling out. However, the handlebars are likely to remain a one-off sculpture.

We were inspired by the antler handlebars

Charles I enclosed the land southwest of London now known as Richmond Park – a decision that might have been unpopular with local residents at the time, but has saved the green space from development. To this day, the 2,360-acre site remains homes to hundreds of deer, but, other than the abundance of wildlife, one of the most striking thing about the park is the way motorists stop religiously for deer when the animals show even the slightest sign of wanting to cross the road.

Elsewhere, if a group of kids crosses a road and causes the traffic to slow, drivers hoot their horns or continue driving towards them at speed – a behaviour that contributes to the 16,000 children injured on Britain’s roads each year.

We don’t know why drivers seem happy to wait patiently as a group of animals dawdles across a road, and yet behave dangerously when children are around, but it’s given us an idea for a new line of safety clothing for pedestrians and cyclists – whatever their age.

Forget cycle helmets and high-visibility tabards, the do-it-yourself headgear pictured below will not only make you stand out, it will bring traffic to a halt…

Cycle insurance from the ETA offers new-for-old, third party insurance on any bike you ride , personal accident cover, race event cover and if you suffer a mechanical breakdown, we will come out and recover you and your bike.