Design
A Biking Crash-Test Dummy Could Make Us Smarter About Cycling
We're getting closer to understanding exactly what happens to our bodies when our bikes crash.
Bicycling is increasingly seen as a legitimate form of urban transportation – 2010 bike commuting rates in the United States were up 50 percent from 2000. So it’s about time that two-wheelers got some serious safety equipment: a crash-test dummy custom-designed to measure cycling injuries.
The dummy, a project of engineering students at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, is the first of its kind, and it could reveal some very interesting data about what happens to cyclists’ bodies when they hit the pavement.