Swedish Women Create An Invisible Bike Helmet Known as Hövding

When I was a child I would go out on many bike rides with my friends. It was always fun, cutting down bumpy dirt trails through our local woods or winding our way around the tight paths of the nearby canal. Part of that fun didn't extend to us ever slipping on helmets though, it was simply never the ‘cool’ thing to do. Even after we were told stories of kids getting killed due to having no head protection when they fell of their bikes at top speed, we still didn't change our ways. They were ugly and clunky, and not something you wanted to be seen wearing when you got to the age where flirting with girls was your biggest priority in life. We threw away our safety simply because it didn't fit our aesthetic needs.

As an adult I now know the value of a good bike helmet, and I've read countless stories of people who've been spared death, or at least brain damage, because their helmet did its job. There are plenty of shoddy ones out there too though, so it’s always worth paying a little more. Although the problem is that they still look pretty terrible, and their protection still isn’t as good as it could be. This is where Swedish design students Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin step in, with their creation called Hövding; the invisible bike helmet.

The Hövding is basically a personal airbag, developed in cooperation with airbag manufacturer Alva Sweden. I takes on the appearance of a trendy neckwrap, but instead of simply being a fashion statement it has an airbag and sensor inserted inside. This sensor is designed to trip when the wearer suffers a crash. Have a fall off your bicycle and the airbag inflates, cushioning your head as you fall to the ground. The designers believe this makes it a lot safer than your average bicycle helmet because it gives a higher degree of all-round protection.

The problem is that such technology doesn't come cheap, and the helmet will currently set you back 399 Euros (about £320 or $530). Some say you can't put a price on personal safety though, so at the risk of losing your life without a helmet your investment in one these will pay you back a thousand times.

You can watch a short film about the helmet and its designers below, including a few clips of the invention being tested through the aid of crash dummies.

“If people say it’s impossible we have to prove them wrong”

It certainly looks like they have a big shot at doing just that.

(Via The Presurfer)