On our radar: Invisible bike helmets

It’s been a pretty harrowing fortnight for London’s cyclists, with a shocking six deaths. We’ve all become uncomfortably familiar with the sinking feeling on opening the Evening Standard, only to be greeted with more bad news, another grieving family, another life extinguished.

And so talk’s turning now to what can be done: how can we make London’s streets the relative haven that they are in the Netherlands, where there were just 22 deaths in 2012 – almost half Britain’s figure.

Calls are varied: a ban on heavy goods vehicles at certain times, a higher cycling budget, enforced helmets for Boris Bike users, and even simply encouraging more people to cycle. The Netherlands’ cycling success is frequently explained using the argument that cyclists are stronger when there are more of them on the roads – so if people are put off cycling by the amount of deaths, it becomes a vicious circle.

But a new idea has come in the wake of a neat invention by two Swedish women, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, who came up with their idea following a master’s thesis on a helmet that people would be happy to wear. Their market research revealed that in a perfect world, people would wear helmets that were 'invisible'. To us that sounds like an annoying answer. But to them, it was the inspiration they were looking for.

Hövding inventors Terese Alstin and Anna Haupt: not put off by facetious survey responses. All images courtesy of Hövding.

"We realised that was what the world was waiting for. An invisible bicycle helmet. That wouldn’t ruin your hair." And lo, Hövding was born. It’s an airbag helmet, tested extensively by recreating cycling accidents. While you’re merrily cycling along, your locks are unsheathed, flowing glossily into the wind. But should you be in an accident, an ultra-strong nylon airbag will inflate, covering a much larger area than a traditional helmet. It can even withstanding multiple bumps, and being scraped along the ground.

A new dawn for cyclists? We hope so. There are fewer female cyclists on London roads than male – and women are statistically more likely to be in cycling accidents involving lorries. So maybe gender equality will hop back on its bike now too:

We can't believe this gorgeous Swedish couple are wearing helmets either.