The Dutch Cycling Federation in the Netherlands is boldly approaching car manufacturers and requesting hood-mounted external airbags on all vehicles. It's either that or they're going to have to stop running into cyclists (which will never happen). We're not going to get into the "roads are for cars" debate because we're sure the commenters will touch on that, but it's not a terribly horrible demand by the cyclists (Actually, it IS a terribly horrible demand by the cyclists and Travis regrets even remotely suggesting as such. Furthermore, we call on the Dutch government to immediately brand as terrorists any organization that would ever approach an automaker to request such a silly thing. Or maybe revoke funding for their favorite bike path. Something punitive, we don't really care what. -Ed.). The group says that 60 lives could be saved and 1,500 serious injuries could be prevented annually in the Netherlands alone with hood-mounted air bags. Luckily for those peddlers, the technology is already available.
Nissan and Jaguar have both developed pop-up bonnets that help absorb impact from hitting pedestrians and cyclists. Also, Swedish auto part maker, Autolive Inc., has developed an external airbag that deploys from the bottom on the windshield. What's one more airbag? Modern cars have airbags all over the place so is asking for just one more that horrible? [Motor Authority]