Wearable airbags - anyone tried one yet?

Thoughts.

45 years ago, a statistical analysis was done down here that found that the accident rate was much lower for helmetless riders, than for riders wearing helmets. They reasoned it was because of the "protected womb" effect. Riders with helmets would do things that the others wouldn't.

Same potential with airbag suits?
 
Accidents caused by the rider,helmet less or not,air bags or not, is the riders fault! You cannot predict all vehicles that are going to pull out on you! The impact of hitting pavement ,concrete, after being thrown off is what gets you the most and that’s what the bags are for! My face shield on my helmet save my face from faceplanting the curb I got thrown into! So however you ride ,safety equipment or not, ride safe and alert! I truelly believed I survived that accident because I was wearing my helmet with the shield that day and not my half helmet!
 
It goes helmet, gloves, and jacket.

If you have gloves you can balance yourself while sliding. And your hands are always the first thing to hit the ground, it's instinct. And then jacket, it protects a lot of surface area for how easy it is to throw on.

I like to wear a helmet. If I am riding back roads with low low traffic on a nice warm sunny day I will sometimes ride without. But if there is moderate traffic Forget about it. I don't trust car drivers not to kill me. I feel like I can ride better and more aggressive with a helmet. I like a full face because it cuts down on wind noise and is warm.
 
Like down hill skiing or HORSEBACK RIDING motorcycling is inherently dangerous. If an airbag is wear :sneaky: you are headed you may want to rethink your "sport". A small sporty car is an order of magnitude safer than a bike (operator dependant). Being a small town guy my relatively rare forays into big city traffic have me cringing in fear, for about a hour. Soon I'm slicing and dicing with the rest of them.
I'm mostly ATTGATT But occasionally do a rural t-shirt and tennies ride. :rolleyes:
 
Yup, riding is inherently dangerous, but to me, it’s all about managing the risk. Just as I don’t ride when the roads are icy or without a helmet, an airbag vest might be a reasonable way of reducing the odds against me.

Besides - riding is fun and life, as we all know, is pretty danged short, no matter what you do.
 
I have no complaints about some choosing to wear safety gear for protection. I do. What I think should be done is better driver education. Things to be taught should stress awareness of others on the road.
This bullshit about, "Oh Officer I didn't see that motorcycle" Is pretty lame. I have a Plymouth mini van. I have on many occasions had others pull out in front of me and had to use very defensive driving technics to avoid hitting them. If they can't see my van they should not be driving.
It's kinda like years ago a lot of drivers would hit tractor trailers from behind and the cars would just drive under the trailer. So to fix the problem they made the rear bumpers on the trailer lower to stop cars from going under.
In my view it would have been better to teach people to not run into the rear of a tractor trailer.
Recently they passed a law here in New York saying if you have a trailer hitch on your vehicle that has a removable draw bar you can't have the draw bar in the hitch except when towing. The say if in accident where some hits you in the rear the draw bar causes to much damage to the car that hits you. I believe if some one hits you from behind any damage to their car is the minimum of what they deserve.
Again better driver training would prevent the problem.
The thing is even with better training there are people out there that just don't care enough about others to use common sense. Others don't believe they should be responsible for their own actions, so even if they cause the problem, they have the mistaken idea that it's not their fault.
I guess I've ranted enough for now. Thanks for letting me vent.
Leo
 
So if you wear a helmet ,gloves ,boots,jackets, orange or green vest, glasses to ride a bike you shouldn’t ride a bike! That’s nonsense! Skiers and horseback(rodeo) riders do wear safety equipment! It just a inflatable vest not like it’s a whole suit ,to protect your body from impact, if you don’t like to wear safety stuff when you ride, cool, don’t knock other riders that do! The pro riders wear body armor! Are you saying they shouldn’t ride too! Been riding since I was 8 yrs old on my first mini bike! Been through some scrapes and bruises ,especially riding motocross! When that bus hit me it thru me right into the curb face first, no chance of sliding because I was airborne! Things happen very fast, don’t think you can always slide your way out an impact! If you don’t like safety equipment ,cool ,that your thing! Maybe jumping out of an airplane with no chute would be a better sport for you! Nothing wrong at all to ride with some safety equipment on! I don’t ride for sport anymore ,just for pleasure and will be riding til I can’t anymore,turned 57 today and my riding days are far from being over and my body sure can’t take the impacts anymore so yes I would wear the vest if I had one but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go get one! It’s just a good idea!
 
I have no complaints about some choosing to wear safety gear for protection. I do. What I think should be done is better driver education. Things to be taught should stress awareness of others on the road.
This bullshit about, "Oh Officer I didn't see that motorcycle" Is pretty lame. I have a Plymouth mini van. I have on many occasions had others pull out in front of me and had to use very defensive driving technics to avoid hitting them. If they can't see my van they should not be driving.
It's kinda like years ago a lot of drivers would hit tractor trailers from behind and the cars would just drive under the trailer. So to fix the problem they made the rear bumpers on the trailer lower to stop cars from going under.
In my view it would have been better to teach people to not run into the rear of a tractor trailer.
Recently they passed a law here in New York saying if you have a trailer hitch on your vehicle that has a removable draw bar you can't have the draw bar in the hitch except when towing. The say if in accident where some hits you in the rear the draw bar causes to much damage to the car that hits you. I believe if some one hits you from behind any damage to their car is the minimum of what they deserve.
Again better driver training would prevent the problem.
The thing is even with better training there are people out there that just don't care enough about others to use common sense. Others don't believe they should be responsible for their own actions, so even if they cause the problem, they have the mistaken idea that it's not their fault.
I guess I've ranted enough for now. Thanks for letting me vent.
Leo
Yep the bus driver said she didn’t see me because the sun was in her eyes!
 
Yep the bus driver said she didn’t see me because the sun was in her eyes!

Perhaps she should have sued God to move the frickin’ sun.

Anyhow - I do agree with Leo about better driver training and I would also support much more severe penalties for texting drivers. But in the meantime, safety gear simply seems like a logical response to the situation as it exists now.

Anyhow, I am enjoying the discussion and will likely get one of these devices with my birthday money in April - and then I’ll write a report on it for the group.

Cheers,

Pete
 
For me, here in the desert Southwest, heat is the biggest problem when wearing protective gear. In the winter months you can wear pretty much anything. But eight months out of the year, ITS HOT, and my gear has to flow air. The three things I won’t compromise on are full face helmet, jacket with or without armor, and quality armored boots.
My best jacket is winter only wear because it’s too hot otherwise. I switch to a mesh jacket and give up some protection.
I once decided that I needed riding pants, with tough abrasion resistant cordura nylon exterior and knee armor.
I read recommendations and bought a pair, they were expensive! When I got them they were so heavy, inflexible, and hot, I never wore them , not once! They took up room in a cabinet until I finally threw them out.
I have no doubt that inflatable vest could and would provide another layer of protection, but I probably wouldn’t wear it.
For me , it’s protect your noggin, wear gear that will keep your skin on in the event you go sliding, and protect your hands and feet. And when you’re riding , just assume nobody sees you and position yourself in traffic accordingly.
I assume that everyone in a left turn lane WILL cross in front of me and everyone waiting to pull out of a parking lot WILL pull out in front of me. Try to stay out of peoples blind spot, don’t ride beside a car whenever possible. And on and on.
It’s also why I seek out backroads and small two lane country roads for pleasure riding.
As for anyone else, I say if you want it, can afford it and would feel better having one , by all means get the vest.
Ride your own ride!
 
I was a member of the board below about 10 years ago. Maybe the premier motorcycle safety place. The owner/moderator got referred to elsewhere as the "safety nazi". Would not tolerate levity. Don't know if he's still there -- would be very old now. If I wanted the psychology, physics, practicality, and etc. on this topic, that would be the place to go. If it's like it was.

https://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/default.asp
 
When I learnt to ride years ago I never heard of counter steering. After watching the video in the link in TM's post it made me remember years ago trying not to hit something (dead animal on the road) and no matter how much I tried to steer away I hit it. Then later on I read about counter steering so went out on my bike to try. I half expected to crash because it seemed so wrong. But hell, it works well, in fact really well. Amazing the sharp turns it allows you to make. Worth practising regularly for those fire truck moments.

Thank you to gggGary for uploading the video back in 2015.
 
I was a member of the board below about 10 years ago. Maybe the premier motorcycle safety place. The owner/moderator got referred to elsewhere as the "safety nazi". Would not tolerate levity. Don't know if he's still there -- would be very old now. If I wanted the psychology, physics, practicality, and etc. on this topic, that would be the place to go. If it's like it was.

https://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/default.asp
good board but too depressing. Had the same problem on the Yamaha Venture forum, a bunch of old guys, frequently announcing they were hanging up their riding gloves. My (only half kidding) goal is to die riding, f the airbags.
 
Yep
For me, here in the desert Southwest, heat is the biggest problem when wearing protective gear. In the winter months you can wear pretty much anything. But eight months out of the year, ITS HOT, and my gear has to flow air. The three things I won’t compromise on are full face helmet, jacket with or without armor, and quality armored boots.
My best jacket is winter only wear because it’s too hot otherwise. I switch to a mesh jacket and give up some protection.
I once decided that I needed riding pants, with tough abrasion resistant cordura nylon exterior and knee armor.
I read recommendations and bought a pair, they were expensive! When I got them they were so heavy, inflexible, and hot, I never wore them , not once! They took up room in a cabinet until I finally threw them out.
I have no doubt that inflatable vest could and would provide another layer of protection, but I probably wouldn’t wear it.
For me , it’s protect your noggin, wear gear that will keep your skin on in the event you go sliding, and protect your hands and feet. And when you’re riding , just assume nobody sees you and position yourself in traffic accordingly.
I assume that everyone in a left turn lane WILL cross in front of me and everyone waiting to pull out of a parking lot WILL pull out in front of me. Try to stay out of peoples blind spot, don’t ride beside a car whenever possible. And on and on.
It’s also why I seek out backroads and small two lane country roads for pleasure riding.
As for anyone else, I say if you want it, can afford it and would feel better having one , by all means get the vest.
Ride
yep ,most of us vintage bikers like to ride freely and comfortable ,helmets,gloves,boots, jackets is pretty much all we need! Lived in Mohave,Arizona right across the river from needles,California! Learned my desert riding skills from and yea it did get hot, a lot of t-shirt riding! So I feel ya on that one! If I had the vest I would probably wear on long trips as log as if was comfortable and not feel so bulky where it interferes with my riding! But I think the market is for the crotch rocketeers that want to go 100+ mph no matter what road they are on with no respect for anyone,even other bikers! Here in the Hampton Rhodes area traffic is crazy all the time ,back roads are busy from cars avoiding the interstates and I constantly ride both! Most of the fatal accidents caused by bikes are caused by the rocketeers around here, young navy guys getting their bike for the first time, the cruisers are usually getting hit by cars either side swiping or pulling out on them!
 
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