Zackees

The art of using turn signals seems to be getting lost in the hustle for both cars and bicyclists alike. The Zackees Turn Signal Gloves project on Kickstarter wants to make turn signals cool again.

The gloves are typical bike-style fingerless gloves, but with light-up LED directional arrows built on top of each hand. Hold your hand up, trigger the contact pads, and traffic behind you can see which way you're planning to turn. This works equally well for bicyclists, runners, skateboarders, or what's left of the roller-blading crowd.

The gloves can be powered by either regular or rechargeable coin cell batteries. A $69 pledge gets you a set of gloves in classic black spandex. Upgrading to red, blue, or pink costs an extra $6. If recharging sounds good, then a $99 pledge comes with two sets of rechargeable batteries and a custom charger to juice them up.

It's easy to see the safety merits of the Turn Signal Gloves. Many drivers and bikers aren't familiar with the classic hand signals, and those hand signals can be hard to see at night. Slap some lights on your hands and everyone will take notice.

The most ingenious aspect of the gloves is that they look cool. Bike gloves, with their fingerless design, already channel the awesome hair-band rocker drummers of the 1980s. Add glowing lights and it's completely over the top. It may be enough to encourage a new era of turn signal use.