A student's bright idea has been hailed as a potential life safer.

Emily Brooke, a final-year product design student at the University of Brighton, has developed a laser to protect cyclists on the roads.

The invention, called BLAZE, projects a bright green image of a bike onto the road ahead to alert motorists.

The design has already received a lot of interest from experts and has won Miss Brooke a place at Babson College in Massachusetts, America, on an entrepreneurship programme where she will work on developing the product.

Miss Brooke came up with the idea after taking up cycling.

The 25-year-old said: “Until a year ago I had never been on a road bike before but I decided to cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats for charity.

“I trained for four months and completed the ride in September and have since become a cycling nut.

“However I noticed that cycling in the countryside was beautiful, peaceful and relaxing, but in a city it felt stressful and dangerous.

“I wanted to tackle the issue of safety of cyclists on city streets by increasing the visibility, footprint and ultimately the awareness of the bicycle.”

Miss Brooke has now taken out a patent for BLAZE, which is a small, battery-powered device that is attached to the handlebars of bicycles, motorcycles or scooters.

BLAZE will be on show along with other final-year student inventions at an exhibition in the creativity suite at the university’s Moulsecoomb campus during office hours today and Monday.

For more information visit http://budabrighton.com/2011/05/buda-final-year-exhibition/