Look mummy, no hands!

If you’re a cyclist in Ghent, here are a few options available to you on a daily basis: when your wheels are not stuck in the tram rails, you can always get hit by a car or ran over by a bus. On better days, you simply get yelled at by random pedestrians. Needless to say that you’re pretty relieved (and simply happy to be alive) when you finally get to your destination. Yet it has never occurred to you that maybe one day you could find yourself in real danger on the road (it only happens to others, right?). Luckily, Hövding has thought about it for you and has come up with the first airbag helmet for cyclists.

What is Hövding? 

Hövding (chief in English) is a unique airbag system designed to protect nearly all of the cyclist’s head while not affecting their field of vision. It looks like a hood and is made of very solid nylon fabric. The airbag is programmed to react to shocks generated by accidents and inflates for several seconds in order to absorb multiple impacts.

The protection covers a much larger area than traditional helmets and is also softer for the head. Now it might also come in handy for girls who like to wear their hair in a ponytail or a bun since this little wonder only inflates around your head when needed. Say goodbye to hat (or should I say helmet) squished hair! 

Of course, protection and esthetics come with a price and the Hövding certainly got the memo with its 299€ (could almost make you reconsider a good old concussion!). But anyway, what do you think of this new product? Would you rather wear that than a traditional helmet? 

This Swedish innovation started out as a Master thesis in 2005 and also won several Innovation Awards in Scandinavia. Ten years later, Hövding has become a real company with 20 employees and more than 100 retailers in Northern Europe. More info on http://www.hovding.com/

-Raphaëlle