The Helmet-Cam of Justice for Cyclists

As someone who loves riding vintage bicycles as much as shooting with state-of-the-art cameras (and had a serious crash a year ago to prove it), I was particularly intrigued by a project under development by Chaotic Moon involving an innovative bicycle helmet designed to capture critical imagery during an accident.

Outwardly, the so-called “Helmet of Justice” looks much like any other bicycle helmet, but that’s where the similarity ends. Inside, the helmet houses two tiny cameras in the front, four in the rear, and one peering through the top—all coupled to an accelerometer. Upon impact, the cameras instantly begin recording video from a variety of angles for the next two hours—information that can prove invaluable, particularly in the case of a hit-and-run. Downloading the video is as simple as connecting the helmet to a computer with a USB cable.

Chaotic Moon is a mobile application studio involved in everything from product development and strategic planning to managing the mobile presence of their clients. The idea for their Helmet of Justice was spawned when an employee was struck by a motorist who fled the scene, while the injured cyclist awoke in an ambulance with no recollection of the accident, nor any information that could lead to the arrest of the motorist.

With video images from the Chaotic Moon helmet, there would likely have been sufficient imagery to identify the make, model and color of the vehicle, and perhaps even footage of the motorist and the car’s license plate. By adding GPS, Bluetooth-pairing, and text-messaging features to the imaging capabilities of such a helmet, it’s not difficult to imagine a product that could document an accident and dispatch emergency services to the scene.

There are no immediate plans to make the Helmet of Justice commercially available, but there’s no doubt my wife will be first in line to buy one for me the moment it hits the shelves.

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