Bicyclist Airbags Help Prevent Injuries

It’s a given that that in any accident involving an automobile and a bicycle, it’s the person riding the bicycle who is at a much higher risk of suffering serious or even fatal injuries. That is even more so in the case of a city in Texas, where bicycle safety measures are all too few and inadequate. In fact, bicycling safety is not much of a priority across the United States, save for a few regions.

That is in marked contrast to Europe, especially countries like the Netherlands, where investments in bicycling safety are the norm. In the Netherlands, a car company has come out with a new external airbag design for vehicles that reduces the risk of injuries and fatalities not to the motorist, but to the bicyclist.

The airbag deflates when the system detects a collision with a bicycle, covering the area on the windshield, which is where a bicyclist lands upon impact. The deployment of the airbags helps protect the bicyclist from serious or fatal injuries. The company claims that this is the world’s first exterior airbag that is designed primarily to protect bicyclists and pedestrians in the event of an accident.

A technology like this is not unfamiliar to Texas bicycle accident lawyers. Recently, Volvo unveiled its new car that also has similar airbags aimed at reducing the risk of injuries to pedestrians. The technology has been unveiled in the new V 40 model, and is called, quite rightly, a pedestrian airbag.

Safety for pedestrians and bicyclists needs to be a priority across Texas. Unfortunately, this state has not invested much in safety initiatives for either pedestrians or bicyclists, with the result that fatality numbers in the state continue to be high.