The idea behind it is pretty cool if you’re an extreme winter athlete. A wearable airbag that inflates around your head upon impact. This is the LIFEBAG. It wears like a backpack, and was actually invented to protect wayward skiers who find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time staring down an avalanche. With danger imminent, the user can manually trigger airbag deployment by pulling a handle. Then, the 150 liter can inflates the airbags to provide your head with absolute safety.

Which is great if you see the danger coming. Because while the lifebag represents some serious forward thinking on personal safety for athletes, it takes a full 3 seconds to inflate. Count it for yourself. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. That’s a pretty long time. And by then, what’s happened has happened and the damage is done. Still, better to have it than not, I figure. What the LifeBag needs is an automatic deployment option that inflates the airbag instantly. But the explosive requirements would probably do more damage than whatever is threatening the skier.

And while the Lifebag should not be a substitute for a good helmet, it may indeed provide the necessary protection against whiplash injuries should the wearer see the danger coming.