If you spend any time watching motorcycle racing it's hard not to be amazed at the relatively small number of fatal accidents in the sport, but the threat of serious injury is always there. The seriousness of an accident is usually determined by whether it's a high-side or a low-side crash, but more times than not the rider walks away. Falls are an inevitable result of pushing the limits, and as Nicky Hayden once said, "Telling a rider he's going to fall is like telling a swimmer he's going to get wet".Rider and track safety have improved over the years, and now manufacturers are working on airbags that prevent head and neck injuries. Spidi introduced an airbag for riders in 1999, and Alpinestars and Dainese are working on their own airbag systems. The Spidi airbag is worn over a jacket or leathers, and the Alpinestars and Dainese airbags are incorporated into racing leathers.
All three of the manufacturers use an airbag that inflates around the rider's head and neck. The Spidi system is activated by a cord that is attached to the handlebars. When a rider crashes and is thrown from the bike the cord is pulled and the bags inflate. The system has been criticized because it will not inflate if the rider isn't thrown from the bike and because the system will inflate if a rider forgets about the cord when they are getting off the bike.
The Alpinestars and Dainese systems use gyroscopes and motion sensors to detect crashes and inflate the airbags. Alpinestars Advanced Safety Technology incorporates the sensors into a rider mounted telemetry system that they have been using for several years. That system includes acceleration sensors, a central logging unit, two GPS units, an inertial motion unit and a display board. Both companies are still evaluating the rider data they've accumulated, and are perfecting their systems to insure that the airbags "inflate predictably in the right circumstances".
Dainese has been developing their D-air® Racing airbag with Grand Prix riders, and had their first deployment of an airbag under race conditions at Valencia in 2007. In the years since they first started to develop the system they have reduced the volume of the sack, redistributed protective areas, increased the system's inflation pressure and programmed the airbag to deflate after 10 seconds. The latest version of the airbag is contained inside the suit so when the airbag is deployed the suit expands.
Development continues on airbag systems with both Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo agreeing to use the Dainese system in race conditions. Crashing is inevitable in racing, but the new airbag systems are the latest attempt to minimize head and neck injuries in motorcycle road racing.
Motorcycle Air Bag Slideshow
