Airbag Head Protection

[groberts]

Putting aside (please) the debate of should helmets be used, this is a fascinating design - on impact the collar inflates and protects the head, clever and potentially less obtrusive /more convenient than a helmet? Take a look at the video, it looks quite affective.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... -airbag.do

[Si]

Sorry, but I'm afraid that, like helmets, the real question is: what protection does it actually give? The design may be clever, but if it doesn't give any real protection then it is useless. The article talks about years of testing to get the inflation mechanism to work correctly, but doesn't mention any testing of the effectiveness of the protection side of things - this is the info that would be most helpful to us.

[[XAP]Bob]

My first questions:

- Pony tails?
- Hair pins?

Followed closely by
- Probably a half decent idea - compare it with the motorcycle airbag jacket displayed a few years back
- It'll never get to market (see above)
- It still couldn't be compulsory on BBikes.

[broadway]

Leaving aside my misgivings

Even if it isn't effective it would enable the people who only were something for liability or want to wear an helmet another choice of what to wear.

[snibgo]

Interesting idea. I note the video has loads of dummies being hit directly from behind, which is a rare form of collision. It runs from a battery that needs recharging, which could be an issue.

As Si points out, the real question is how much protection it gives. It wouldn't be hard to engineer it to pass the Snell test. But the complex algorithms would need acceptably low rates of false positives (going off when it doesn't need to) and false negatives (not going off when it should).

More information, for those who read Swedish: http://www.hovding.com/hovding.php

[MartinC]

One issue must be the timing. The gap between deployment (triggered by a head acceleration presumably) and the impact in a cycle accident must be very variable. It's only inflated for a short time so this aspect needs some attention.

[bensonboo]

Looks good if you are hit from behind, but what if you just slide off on a corner or clip something and down you go? It also looks like you can't wear a conventional helmet with it so do you wear this instead and hope you only get hit from behind?

[james01]

Accidental deployment would surely be an issue. The shock of sudden inflation could cause a cyclist to lose control. Also, you'd look an idiot if it deployed as you walked into a pub
I'll be sticking to my helmet thanks.

[Si]

Also, it's giong to make one hell of a mess of my top hat!

[Nutsey]

Airbag for cyclists - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... elmet.html

[Vorpal]

Let's make them compulsory, so the stoopid can drive that much more stoopidly.

[Tonyf33]

It doesn't address the poor driving that more often than not is the only factor in these incidents! the onus is been transferred to the cyclist which isn't right.

In the first run the bike mainly tips up due to the pannier rack & the low bumper on the Saab, the front bumper of the car does not deform enough at a low(ish) speed to envelop the pannier and pushes the cyclist forward rather than tipping up the bike. Also the braking is not the same distance as normal. The saab is approx 4.6m long and takes more than two car lengths to come to a stop. At 20km/h in good conditions this would be about 5 metres NOT 9m+ so the kinetic energy pushing the bike after impact is not represenative unless the driver does not brake until well after the cyclist is struck.
In the 2nd run with the cyclist falling sideways results in the hip & shoulder hitting the ground & arm/hand stopping the fall. The head invariably does not touch the ground but could do so if this type of 'protection' or a helmet is worn. the last run is not truely representative of an emergency stop because more force than is possible is applied so the forks deform backwards into the downtube different to if you had done it for real. you get a nice face plant at the end of it and again putting ones hands out in front stops the head/face from ever coming into contact with the ground.

They could have spent the time & money so much better IMO!

[gentlegreen]

Is it only me, or does it look like something out of a Bosch painting ?



And are "ra ra" skirts and leggings back "in" then ? :-



Not exactly conventional Copenhagenized attire ...