Keeping motorcyclists safe just became easier. Helmet laws have decreased the frequency and seriousness of head, neck, and spinal injuries in motorcycle accidents, but one Italian company, Dainese, has advanced motorcycle safety in a way we’ve never seen before.

Dainese Combats Motorcycle Collision Accidents

Lino Dainese, an avid motorcyclist, realized motorcycle jackets needed to be both stylish enough to be wearable and safe enough to prevent injury.

Trained as a businessperson, Dainese started designing protective clothing for motorcyclists in 1972 in Molvena, Italy. Dainese partnered with respected, highly trained engineers to research and develop stylish motorcycle jackets with a special feature: self-inflating airbags. To ensure optimal safety, the team turned to pre-existing airbag technology that releases the bag at the moment of impact.

These airbags deploy after receiving a signal from the inflation unit contained in the airbag. The signal ignites a chemical reaction that disperses helium and fills the bag to capacity. When developing the airbag, Dainese used a safety prototype of a jacket fitted with an inflatable airbag. They named the prototype the Misano 1000 and have fitted it with sensors that evaluate the condition of its wearer 800 times per second. This enables constant, consistent monitoring of the cyclist wearing it. Dainese has also researched a full-body suit that uses the same technology.

Future of Motorcycle Safety

Annually, the United States sees an annual average of 4,417 motorcyclist deaths for the past five years. Motorcyclists are also 35 times more likely to die in a road accident than those in passenger cars. We can improve these statistics.

The jacket is expected to retail for $2,500. As researchers continue to improve the technology, price drops will hopefully make the jacket more accessible. With more research, and the development of full-body airbag safety and protective gear, companies like Dainese prove their strategic focus on making cycling as safe as it can be.

Check out the video of the airbag at work HERE, and let us know what you think.