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| Head for speed - an ITS helmet for motorcyclists.
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5/10/04 |
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A young graduate has developed a 'smart' motor cycle helmet that could help save countless lives every year.
Piers Tucker, a 23 year old graduate in Industrial Design and Technology from Brunel University, London has built advanced satellite positioning technology into a helmet and created a digital screen onto which is flashed the bike's speed and other safety-related information. The display means riders need never take their eyes off the road, even for a second.
"As soon as you take your eyes off the road, you're potentially causing a hazard," said Tucker.
The LCD screen measuring 2.5cm x 2cm appears to one side of the driver's field of view and shows, in addition to the speed at which the machine is moving, whether the direction indicators are on or off and what gear the bike is in. Tucker says his idea is based on the Head-Up Display used in fighter aircraft. A GPS chip is used to calculate the vehicle's speed in knots which is then converted into miles per hour. Information on the indicators and gears is transmitted to the LCD display by wireless signals.
When the indicators are on, the unit also makes a sound so that the driver is aware both visually and aurally. The prototype helmet - a second-hand racing helmet bought on an Internet auction site - is, says Tucker, the result of months of research in Brunel University's multi-media laboratories and experimentation in advanced simulators.
"I designed this helmet to save lives," said Tucker. "When you are riding a motorcycles at a fast speed it is difficult to concentrate on the displays on the dashboard and the roads at the same time. It takes about 0.25 seconds to look down, focus on a speedometer and re-focus on the road again. …it can make the difference between life and death."
Department for Transport figures show that more than 24,000 riders and passengers of motorcycles were killed or seriously injured last year in the UK alone. The new helmet is expected to make a significant contribution to reducing this figure if, as hoped, it goes into general production within the next few years. Tucker is currently looking for a commercial manufacturer to take his idea forward.
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