IRELAND AM star Alan Hughes gave out to Tommy Bowe as he took a dig at his wife on air during a “serious” segment.
The Virgin Media stars spoke to the Sunday Independent’s motoring editor, Geraldine Herbert to speak about car safety and new technology.
Tommy joked about women drivers[/caption]
Alan told Tommy that the chat was supposed to be ‘serious’[/caption]
Geraldine spoke about car safety[/caption]
Volvo Cars recently unveiled a new multi-adaptive safety belt which is a world-first technology aimed to further enhance safety for everyone in real-world traffic situations.
Alan remarked: “This will save lives and that’s the bottom line.”
Geraldine explained: “Volvo have always shared their technology with other competitors. Currently how the seatbelt works is – it determines the amount of restraint it puts on you by the crash.
“So regardless of what size you are, whether you’re frail, you’re older, you’re female, you’re male, it’ll give the same sort of restraint. This will actually, through sensors, determine your body weight, your height.”
Alan added: “So they’re looking at women, pregnant women, children, elderly people.”
The reporter explained how the belt will respond and personalise the amount of restraint your body requires.
Tommy said, “That’s insane”, before asking: “So traditionally, seatbelts would all be male test dummies, whatever else?”
Geraldine replied: “That’s the other thing. What this addresses is a safety gap. Basically, every safety device in the car is designed around the best for an average male, which is shocking.
“So if you go in and buy a car and you’re looking at the Euro NCAP ratings, the crash tests have been done on a male dummy. And when they’re done on a female dummy, it’s a scaled down male. Obviously, we’re not scaled down men.
“There is a female dummy that will be rolled out by the Euro NCAP, but it’s still a year or two away, which is crazy.”
Geraldine revealed women are “73% more likely to be injured or die” in a frontal car crash because of this.
She added: “Because of the entire design of the car is around keeping an average male safe.
“Like we sit closer to the steering because we’re shorter than them. There’s all sorts of things.”
HOST JOKES
Tommy made an joke about the way women drive saying: “Chin on the steering wheel, yeah.”
Alan, who felt the comment came at an inappropriate time, shouted out: “This is serious!”
Geraldine defended women saying: “Well no, we’ve shorter legs a lot of the time. So we sit closer and there’s all of those things that are not taken into consideration.”
And the former rugby star made yet another untimely dig but this time it was aimed at his wife former Miss Wales Lucy.
He said sarcastically: “They definitely should put padding on the top of the steering wheel for my wife.”
