External Airbags Designed to Save Cyclists, Pedestrians
BY ALEXANDER GEORGE, Wired
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In the Netherlands, where bicycles are ubiquitous, approximately 200 cyclists (and 70 pedestrians) are killed each year after being struck by a car. If a car is going faster than 25 mph – the average speed of an accident in the Netherlands – a collision with a bicyclist is usually fatal, and helmets don’t help much during an impact of 12 mph or greater.
TNO looked at every detail of a cycle crash, specifically at the impact points at a vehicle’s front end, concluding that automatic braking and external airbags positions at the bottom of the windshield would reduce the severity of crashes dramatically.
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The 2013 V40 already has this feature, but the technology won’t be making its way across the Atlantic.
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<a href="http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/external-airbags/">http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/external-airbags/</a>;
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[B' Spokes: Too many times American "safety" philosophy impresses me as so self-centered as if they were saying "We need to prevent people from committing suicide when driving but if they want to commit murder that's OK."]