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Motorcyclists To Get Wearable Airbags
jonerik writes "For the past hundred years or so motorcycle accidents have had an unfortunate potential for particularly horrific injuries, or worse. Improvements in safety gear have certainly been made in the past few decades, but in some ways those improvements have been balanced out by the tremendous speeds that modern bikes are capable of. According to this article from ABC News, though, Dainese, a protective sports clothing maker in Vicenza, Italy has developed a wearable airbag vest - called the D-Air - designed to cushion riders in the event of an accident. The D-Air vest features a tiny electronic computer referred to as the STM (which stands for Sensing, Triggering, and Memory), which was developed by an Israeli company called Merhav APP. According to the article, the STM contains sensors that monitor the bike's physical motion. 'The sensors onboard the STM will watch for telltale signs -- such as a sudden deceleration force of about ten times that of gravity -- that precede a collision. Once the computer determines an impending accident, the STM blasts the data to receiver in the vest to start the inflation process.'
This site also features some pictures of the D-Air vest in action. Dainese plans to begin selling the D-Air vest in Europe in the spring, though American sales will have to wait since the U.S. Department of Transportation has yet to set standards for such a device."
What are we actually learning, as a society, from the usage and collision from motor vehicle accidents? How to crash better?
I'm all for improving safety and taking every measure possible to sustain life when there is an accident; however, we should all be mindful that no matter how many safety devices are incorporated into a device, one should still be mindful of their surroundings and take appropriate action *before* the situation degrades into an accident. Drivers need to be far more aware of the world, not just outside their front windshield, but from the viewpoint of all their windows. I've seen too many drivers cut off other vehicles, motorcycles more-so, than I care to recount.
Fortunately, here in the states, motorcycle drivers are required to take a safety course teaching the proper handling of a motorcycle in difficult situations. Unfortunately, drivers of SUVs aren't required to take these safety courses and end up killing a fair amount of their own citizens in smaller vehicles and motorcycles.
Point being: proper training improves everyones chances of returning home safely.
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I call bullshit, and demand references.
Read the first 10 pages of google results for "abs increases stopping distance".
There is *nothing* in there that would lead anyone to conclude that removing ABS would be an advantage. Quite the opposite. The only time it increases your stopping distance is a) driver misuse (letting up on the brake due to feedback), b) snow covered road where the "piling up" of snow in front of the wheel helps.
Not having ABS results in the inability to steer and the potential for an undirected skid.
You're unjustified assertions are dangerous sir. I have a sister in law who believes vehemently that ABS is *DANGEROUS*, and who once chewed out a car rep about it. She's an idiot, and is just mad as hell that she couldn't remember to keep the brake down when the feedback came through the pedal, and that ABS ins't a magic pancea that can prevent all crashes. People like you will keep propogating this myth and disinformation, and it must stop here.
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says that 98.7% of all bikers are
a) fat
b) numb idiots
c) fat pieces of shit
d) fat
How the hell did she save his life while she was paralyzed from the neck down?
This has been a public english announcement. Thank you. (beeeep)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
(a) That's why a lot of us don't ride motorcycles. I've wanted to for a while, largely due to lower cost of ownership of the vehicle as well as availability of incredible gas savings on some bikes and that I'm only a periodic driver and used to live in a city (easier to find parking), but I know in any impact, even where you wipe out in a pack, you get run over and typically lose. I learned that on a road bicycle; you lose if you hit a tree, get forced off the road, hit a curb, a car clips you, etc. Add a motor, well, it's just not mass at low speeds.
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(b) You as a driver, motorcycle or not, are also responsible for watching out for other motorists. Too many people insist "I have the right of way." Jackasses. I drive a car, and I watch out for other vehicles that I think may hit me. It's called defensive driving. I don't think I have the right to the road; I know the rules, but I don't insist on them at the risk of my life or others. Like a lot of the true jackasses out there and aggressive drivers.
It's idiotic for a neon to be challenging a tractor trailer. It's idiotic for an SUV to be challenging a dump truck. Well, duh, it's idiotic for a motorcycle to be challenging cars.
It's like the rule on the seas, where supposedly the smaller vehicle has the "right of way" or whatever the equivalent is. Might be true. But you've got absolutely no brain if you are running around testing it or not thinking about it when the massive tanker is coming at you.
(c) If the car is in front of you in the same lane and turns, uhh, hello, you should have seen it and maybe shouldn't have been riding the shoulder. Oh, maybe you meant the car in the other lane going the opposite direction--you still should have seen it or were flying way too fast through that intersection or too damn close to the car in front you such that it shielded you from the driver's view. I know people who drive Protoge's and smaller cars that have to be careful as well. SUV's, delivery trucks, all shield smaller objects. Bicyclists need to watch (another group I was a part of that insisted on their rights to the point that many times, they ended up violating most road rules). Pedestrians (and yes, in many municipalities, pedistrians are only protected if they are in the crosswalk--they do not have the right of way over the motorists, they just think they do). You're not alone in this. Just idiotic to point out that the other driver is an imbecile--every driver damn well knows people make mistakes, are ignorant, and that you need to watch out for yourself. THAT is the risk of driving. Don't know that risk, don't know it, re-evaluate your mindset please.
Furthermore, generic imbecile caller that you are, I see far too many drivers playing minor games of chicken these days. Cars are not excluded from this. But I see it a lot with motorcyclists. Massive pack ridinig I've only seen with funerals and, of course, motorcyclists. Just odd someone pronouncing their rights while trouncing over everyone else's driving not to mention daily transportation requirements. And if you KNOW you're in a lesser position in the force equation or mass so, uhh, HELLO?
(d) And, as a driver, the most idiotic shit I've seen has to do with motorcyclists. The ones that ride in packs deliberately with their left foot over the yellow divider. The ones that take off over the shoulder in traffic jams. The ones that are utterly idiotic to ride in the blindspot of a driver on a 4 way highway, then get pissed when the driver mistakenly doesn't see them. The ones that weave in between lanes in the city. The one that zoom past speed limit driving vehicles or are most likely to when in a rush.
(e) You can bitch all you want about other motorists, but your own bias against larger vehicles show. If so true, don't get all high and mighty about other vehicles showing their bias against you, e.g. not seeing you because you're probably blowing through the intersection anyways. At least they make a mistake. You, on the other, simply force the issue and that is what makes you an imbecile, as only an imbecile knows they are at a severe disadvantage and still goes ahead to their detriment.
Fuck you!
Fucking ego arseholes. Take your speed fetish to some racetrack, and don't expect anybody to clean up your bloody mess when you run off the track, head first into a tree.
The public roads are meant for transportation. There are people who have children in their cars, for gods sake. You lot (yes all of you, I've yet to see a single person on a motorcycle drive in a sensible fashion) are the fucking salt of the earth.