We know that there are bike riders who would rather risk traumatic brain injury than wear a helmet. Well, two Swedish women have come up with a product for them.
For those who are too vain to wear a helmet, don’t want to mess up their hair, or think they look better wearing a bandana on a bike, there is now the Hovding. TechCrunch.com wrote all about it. Hovding is an “invisible bicycle helmet,” as TechCrunch described it.
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/15/invisible-bike-helmet/
You wear the device around you neck like a collar. If you are in an accident, an inflatable airbag quickly deploys from this collar, surrounding and supposedly protecting your head.
How does this work? According to TechCrunch, it uses gyroscopes and accelerometers to find out if you are about to crash. Then the airbag fills with helium, and creates a hood around your head to protect it if it hits the ground or any other object.
This inflatable helmet has some big drawbacks. It is pricey, $600, and can only be used once, said TechCrunch.
It was invented by two students at Lund University in Sweden, who did five years of research and got $10 million in funding on the project, according to TechCrunch.
It was interesting to read some of the comments, both positive and negative, about the “invisible” helmet.
In response to her comment, someone else wrote, “A hideous brain-damaged death is one option, and so is surviving permanently disabled and disfigured.”
A lot of posters were happy that this inflatable helmet would not give them “sweaty head” like traditional bike helmets.
Guys and gals, you should be more worried about TBI than a sweaty head.
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