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Heads-Up Displays for Motorcyclists
An anonymous reader writes "An NYT article describes a new invention by a former racing driver to incorporate displays in the visors of helmets used by motorcyclists. A GPS receiver in the helmet is used to calculate position and speed of the wearer, and presumably in displaying route guidance. I'll bet some horrifying data could be gathered on the speed with which riders' heads impact the pavement after an accident."
I am waiting for the prices to go down in the glasses version of this type of technology. That would allow me to not only added data wile I am riding but when I am walking down the street. Imagine you can pull up your date file an impress her with all the stuff you remember about her. Also you can have that poem there for you to recite that will rock.
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This would probably increase the usage of Helmets, if only for the coolness factor of a HUD.
;)
;)
Other ideas:
- The helmet should also play mp3 and display the song at the bottom or top each time it changes (tho this could be distracting, and the RIAA would oppose it
- 0 Lux camera to superpose picture at night to improve visibility on highways and blacktops. But with enough intelligence to supress the flaring of incoming vehicle
- SMS !! So you can get localized spam from nearby stops and restaurants (joke)
BTW: no bikers i know would even want to know/care the speed and deceleration of their heads hitting pavement. I believe the whole point of riding a bike is not to crash
> The excuse that far too many automobile drivers use in the US is "I didn't see him", which
> clearly shows that the driver was distracted or "filtering out" everything that wasn't an
> automobile.
Or lying.
There was a study done a few years back where they put a bunch of motorcycle cops in civilian clothes on civilian motorcycles, and had them keep track of how many times each day some shithead cager tried to kill them.
They also had a bunch of uniformed cops on police motorcycles do the same thing.
The results were striking. Across all types and configurations of civilian bikes, there was a consistent effort on the part of car drivers to kill them. The uniformed bikers experienced nearly no such incidents.
If you're on a motorcycle, everyone in a car is trying to kill you. If you understand that, you'll stay alive a lot longer.
Speaking as a motorcyclist, I don't think this will be much use for me. When I am riding hard, the thing I might possibly be able to use in a head-up display would be a tachometer, not a speedometer. On straight roads, I can spare the glance down. If I cannot glance down because I am in traffic, or heading down streets with blind driveways, etcetera, I am going too fast for conditions, and my life expectancy will reflect that.
If I am on a twisty road, and going very hard (I am thinking of the fabulous Duffy Lake road, a very remote and senic one, famous within the sport rider community in BC, on which I have never seen any scenery), there is no way I am going to use a speedometer at all. In that case, one doesn't use the tach either. Though it is true that a rider at the limit is not easily able to use gauges (a very athletic activity that invloves moving your body aggresively forward, back, and to the sides to change the weight distribution of the bike), the pace of events is too fast for them to be of any use anyway. Race bikes don't have speedometers, and the tack is usually oriented such that at redline the needle is pointing straight up. With experience, you do not need to look directly at it.
An important skill for fast road riding (even more so than on the track) is a zen-like ability to scan your visual field without fixating on anything. Particularly when you 'see' something you must avoid. Looking at an obstacle will often result you riding right into it! Anything that adds distraction in that visual field is not useful. I hold that a rider at the edge needs less information (just the important stuff), not more.
Spare me the head up display. I can see it now, mounted on the helmets of Gold Wing riders everywhere, helping them know the speed at which they are adjusting their radio pre-sets.
That said, how about making that GPS provide you some route data? Arrows that flash left or right, according to a pre-planned route, with a heading? I think that might be more useful and safer than a tank bag map...
Remember: always ride with two fingers over the front brake. Unless your hobby is rock climbing, and you are on a CBR 900. Then use one. DOH!
Yet another "invention" by some idiot who doesn't ride, like airbags for bikers etc etc etc.... A biker does not need ANY instruments to ride, you judge you speed to the road conditions, the actual mph doesn't matter, just "safe" and "smooth" and "controlled" is all that matters. You don't need a bloody revcounter, fuel gauge, selected gear indicator, tyre pressure indicator, inclinometer or any other crap, you can hear and feel everything you need to know, this is the WHOLE POINT of being a biker.... In the real world a speedo has one use and one use only, to make sure you don't get a ticket, particularly here in the UK where councils use speed cameras set at arbitrarily low speeds on good roads and revenue generators, for everything else your brain and your experience tell you everything you need to know about speed. Another thing about this thread, people writing about their local experience and making it sound as though that applies worldwide, it doesn't, alcohol certainly is NOT the major cause of death amongst motorcyclists in the UK... in my own opinion that would be "born again" bikers who sold a 500cc bike years ago when the kids came along and now in later years with increased purchasing powers buy a 1300cc 200mph penis extension, and only discover that they lack sufficient training and experience going into that 60 mph corner at 120..... Similarly helmets, ride here (UK) in winter on motorways and (full face) helmets are beautiful things, they stop your brain from being chilled down to the processing power of a chimpanzee on mogadon... ride in southern europe in summer and no helmet is the only sensible choice, assuming the law allows you to make a sensible choice, which it doesn't. Then we have riders who wear bulletproof kevlar everything and ride around like assholes thinking they are superman, and others who ride around wearing shorts and a tee shirt and sneakers... stupidity, no more and no less. Bikers do not need or want more crap getting on the bike with us, bikers need LESS crap, less distractions, less gizmos, and MORE bonding and feedback between rider and bike in the seat of your pants area. As for me, I'm mid 40's and I've ridden just about everything one time or another, in a lot of places around the world, currently running a 23 year old xs11 special that does everything I ask of it, don't own a car and don't posess a car licence, winter / summer, rain / shine, year in year out and more miles than I can shake a stick at. In all of that time and experience there is ONLY ONE THING that I can think of that is any use, and that is training, not the sort of training that you forget 2 minutes after you pass the exam, but the sort of training that sticks with you and changes how you do things... you just can't have too much of it, and it would be nice is some of the car drivers had some compulsory (2 wheel) training too... ride safe, and don't forget what makes biking fun. freedom. not reading instruments.
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