New York Times Profiles Bike Safety Gadgets

How about an air bag for your head and neck? Or unlock your bike with a cell phone. Yes please!

"Philip McAleese, 39, of Newtownards, Northern Ireland, also wanted to make cyclists more visible, so he developed a bike light called See.Sense, which has sensors that react to surrounding light levels and movement. If the cyclist swerves or brakes, for instance, the lights flash in a pattern similar to those on an ambulance or a police car. See.Sense also has a broad beam, so the bike is more visible from all angles, helping to prevent a side-on collision.

Who needs bike lanes at all? The Xfire Bike Lane light is equipped with two high-visibility red lasers that project two three-foot lines onto the road, creating an ad hoc bike lane. The lighted lane is visible to motorists up to a mile away, according to the manufacturer.

But perhaps the most surprising leap in high-tech safety is an inflatable bike helmet called the Hovding, which works much like an automobile air bag. The device, worn around the neck like a quite fashionable scarf, detects the impact of a crash and inflates a sort of instant helmet around the cyclist’s head and neck"

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