Whenever someone is injured or killed in a preventable motor vehicle accident, it is a tragedy. But often some good can come of a tragedy if it is used as a learning opportunity to prevent similar costly mishaps in the future.
One example of this is a San Francisco motorcyclist and his colleagues who have turned an idea that sprang from a collision into a potentially lifesaving device.
“The idea actually came from a motorcycle accident that I had in Barcelona,” said the founder and CEO of SKULLY Helmets, Marcus Weller, according to ABC 7 News. “A few months later I had this dream that I was back on the motorcycle that day. But there was one really important difference, which was that I had GPS maps and they were floating out in front of me like a hologram.”
The idea was for a high-tech helmet with a visor that darkens automatically and projects what looks to the wearer like a floating image, similar to the heads up display technology used in fighter pilot helmets. The image can display directions, eliminates blind spots by projecting feeds from rear facing cameras and it even talks. Weller’s motorcycle accident was caused when he glanced at a street sign and a car stopped short directly in his path; he believes that he could have avoided the accident if he had been able to keep his eyes facing directly forward.
If you have been in a motor vehicle accident, it might not inspire you to create a new safety innovation. But, you can still have a hand in making the roads safer by turning your accident into an opportunity. By holding those responsible for causing an accident accountable in a personal injury lawsuit, you not only can get the compensation you deserve, but can also incentivize safe driving and deter dangerous behavior behind the wheel.
Source: ABC 7 News, “SF-based motorcycle helmet company smashes crowdfunding record,” Jonathan Bloom, Oct. 9, 2014
