Airbags come before a fall

Airbags come before a fall


C'mere 'til i tell ya
Daniel Carey

WE’RE all familiar with the concept of airbags in cars, but a Japanese company has developed an airbag which you wear. The bag, which is strapped around the body, inflates in 0.1 seconds if it detects it is accelerating towards the ground. It is aimed at preventing injury among falling elderly people.
The Tokyo-based manufacturing company, Prop, says the product is designed to cushion a fall using two separate pockets of air – one behind the head and the other around the hips. It does not protect those who fall forward. Falling is a major cause of accidental injury and death among Japan’s elderly population.
Danger of another kind has been making the headlines locally, with motorists being urged to keep watch for deer crossing roads in woodland areas as the animals enter their breeding season. Noel Gibbons, Road Safety Officer with Mayo County Council, has advised drivers to take note of deer warning signs, be extra vigilant after sunset and before and after sunrise, and use a full light when there is no opposing traffic. But, in America, a more unconventional solution has been touted – wolf urine.
According to a story in the Minneapolis-St Paul Star Tribune, published last year, a Minnesota state transportation official has suggested using real or synthetic urine from predators such as wolves, coyotes and bears, as a deer deterrent along roads to decrease the number of deer-vehicle crashes. “I think it’s a problem in every state but Hawaii,” said Bob Weinholzer, programmes administrator for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
New York Times blogger Tom Zeller Jr brought the story to an international audience, and provided a link to the website for the makers of Predator Pee – which comes in a variety of flavours, including Wolf, Coyote, Mountain Lion, Fox and Bobcat. The small bottles are mostly intended for domestic, garden-protection purposes, but the customer testimonials suggest that a larger deployment has potential. “I am very pleased with your Coyote Urine,” said E Harris, of Duxbury, Massachusetts. Not a statement you read every day.
Of course, we’re more used to dodging careless motorists than deer in this country. But not even the most over-anxious Irish speed merchant could match the determination displayed by an American astronaut who last year drove 900 miles from Texas to Florida (wearing a nappy so she wouldn’t have to stop for bathroom breaks) in order to assault a romantic rival.
Lisa Nowak attacked Colleen Shipman with pepper spray and was arrested. When police found that she had been wearing a disguise and had with her an air pistol, a steel mallet, a knife, rubber tubing, latex gloves and garbage bags, she was charged with attempted murder. She told the cops that she was going to use the pistol ‘to entice [Shipman] to talk to her’.
Needless to say, the story caught the imagination of the media. Satirical TV show host Jon Stewart commented: “I don’t think we’ve felt this way about a story since the Vice-President shot a man in the face.”