Bikes, cars and vans all have bells or horns to warn people of their presence. But until now, humans only had the sound of their own voice, which, to be honest, is often less than efficient in moving people out of your way. But now, finally, someone has invented a way to warn passerby of your presence in the shrillest way possible.
The Runbell (tagline: “run rings around people”) was invented to help joggers move through city crowds by ringing a small, finger-mounted bell. We imagine it would come in handy while walking through crowds of slow-walking texters and tourists, too.
The bell comes in two colours – gold and “rose gold” – and looks pleasingly like a knuckle duster:
The idea isn’t dissimilar to the “phone lane“, trialled in Chongqing, China, where those on their phones had to walk separately from faster-moving pedestrians.
The bell’s creators, who originally raised funds for the project through Kickstarter, describe the product as
A sleek, stylish wearable bell for runners, solving the problem of how to courteously warn pedestrians on shared pathways.
We’re not sure how “courteous” it is to force people to move by ringing a bell at them, but each to their own.
