If you weren’t out night riding you might have seen it on ‘Tomorrow’s World’ last night, a cunning helmet that may be just what commuters and many other riders are after.

The Reevu helmet works using a multi mirror wide angle periscope in the shell of the helmet. This transfers a panoramic view of the road or trail behind you to the inside of your helmet peak.

Reevu told bike trade website Bikebiz that the helmet will not only be invaluable for commuters but also racers needing to know what’s going on behind them without obviously looking over their shoulder.

If you did see ‘Tomorrow’s World’ last night then you’ll already have some idea of what the helmet looks like, although Joshua Steele of Reevu told us today that the helmet on the programme was not the finished version, and that the production models are a lot sleeker. Joshua also told us that trialists of the prototype found that because of the proximity of the viewer to the eye, you could monitor the rear-view without a conscious effort.

Now the system has been patented worldwide, Durham based Reevu are producing two helmets – one entry level, and one high-end – which both exceed current US and European impact standards and have been tested and approved. The entry level helmet is priced at £54.99 inc vat, and the high-end at £64.99. According to the website, production helmets will be available from May this year, and you can pre-order on the Reevu site. But if you want more information, mock ups of the rear view display and a quick explanation of how they’ve done it, then the site provides all that as well.

We should be getting our mitts on one next month to let you know how it actually performs.