Home » Louisville start-up wins $100,000 prize at innovation awards

Louisville start-up wins $100,000 prize at innovation awards

GearBrake honored at Vogt Awards

LOUISVLLE, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2014) — Good things are happening for Louisville-based small business GearBrake. One week after taking home the grand prize of $5,000 in the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development’s inaugural entrepreneur pitch competition GearBrake on Thursday won the $100,000 top prize in the 2014 Vogt Invention & Innovation Awards.

See more on GearBrake: http://www.lanereport.com/41465/2014/11/

GearBrake smart brake light module
GearBrake smart brake light module

GearBrake competed against three other startups that were named finalists in September, when each company received a $20,000 grant.

GearBrake has developed a specialized brake light system to better protect and alert motorcyclists. Motorcycles are able to rapidly slow down without using brakes by downshifting and engine braking, but other drivers cannot detect this because downshifting doesn’t light up a bike’s brake lights. GearBrake’s patent-pending module can sense deceleration and will automatically flash the brake lights.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board, one extra second of warning time can prevent up to 90 percent of rear-end collisions. GearBrake provides as many as five seconds of extra warning.