New product : QRide Turns Helmets into Emergency Contract Information

QRide turns bike helmets into
emergency contact information
QR codes on helmets can improve rider safety

ROANOKE, Va. – It’s an outdoor adventurer’s worst nightmare:  What if you’re in an accident and knocked unconscious or seriously disoriented? How could you give vital medical information when you can’t respond?

A Roanoke, Va., company has the solution: QR codes for helmets and zipper tags that provide information about your health.

“Think of all the activities that you participate in that are dangerous enough for you to put on a helmet,” says Warren Schimizzi, a local cyclist who developed QRide with his wife, Paula. “If you’re in an accident, who will tell your medical story for you?”

That’s why they developed QRide – stickers featuring QR codes with personal or emergency information that you can stick right on your bike or helmet. With the snap of a smartphone, anyone can see important information, such as contact details, medical alerts, prescriptions or allergies, that you might want them to know in case of an emergency. QRide stickers can attach to any type of helmet or affix to a bicycle’s top tube or a motorcycle’s gas tank in case rider and bike are separated.

The concept came to Schimizzi as an opportunity to give back to the outdoor community.

“I was going to put the QR codes on a bracelet until I noticed that the engraved ID bracelet I bought for my wife several years ago was something that she forgot to take on bike rides more than she remembered,” Schimizzi said. “She never rode without a helmet, however. That's when the helmet sticker idea hit me.”

Unlike traditional emergency ID bracelets and tags that contain only a tiny bit of printed information, QRide offers a more robust and accurate picture of a person’s health.

The new product and website (www.myqride.com) were launched at the recent Roanoke GO Outside Festival.

Getting a QRide sticker is simple. Go to the QRide website, choose from one of two sizes and fill out your shipping information. Your QRide product will ship directly to you. When you receive your order, fill out the included QRide information form and e-mail it back to QRide. Your QRide Online Emergency ID Record will then be activated. Then you can update or change your information at any time as long as you still have the sticker.

All sales are online for now but the hope is that QRide will be available through outdoor retailers by the holidays. QRide stickers retail for $19.95.

“Roanoke is a great place to build this company,” Schimizzi said. “With a low cost of doing business and a great quality of life that takes advantage of the many outdoor activities in our region, including an active and growing bicycling culture, we wanted our first event to be at the GO Fest. The positive response has been overwhelming.”

The Roanoke GO Outside, a celebration of all things outdoors in a top-rated mid-sized mountain town, attracted 8,500 outdoor enthusiasts to see the latest gear, services and ideas celebrating outdoor recreation. This year’s event featured such national brands as KEEN, Specialized, Raleigh, Gibbon Slacklines, Mountain Khakis, Ruffwear, Subaru, Giant, Innova Discs, Bellayk, Sylvan Sport Trailers and Sierra Nevada.

ABOUT THE ROANOKE REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP
The Roanoke Regional Partnership markets Alleghany, Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke counties, Roanoke, Salem, and Vinton to new and expanding industry.  Since 1983, the Partnership has assisted expansions and locations representing $1.3 billion in new investment and nearly 14,000 direct new jobs in the region. To learn more, visit www.Roanoke.org, www.RoanokeOutside.com and www.RoanokeEntrepreneur.com.