US20070028370A1

US20070028370A1 - Driver and safety personnel protection apparatus, system and method

Info

Publication number: US20070028370A1
Application number: US11/413,776
Authority: US
Inventors: Jarrett Seng
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-04-29
Filing date: 2006-09-26
Publication date: 2007-02-08

Abstract

A system of increasing the safety of motor sports drivers and safety crews including a driver's safety suit having bodily function monitoring capability and the ability to transmit monitored information to an information processing station. A helmet, to be worn by safety crew members, the helmet having communications capability for communication with an information processing station. The helmet having various safety, comfort, communication and protection elements. A driver's helmet having features that provide safety, comfort, protection and communication capabilities. The system also having triage capability in the event of a track incident to further protect and enhance the safety and well being of a driver involved in an incident.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from Provisional Application No. 60/676,226, filed Apr. 29, 2005, herein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today NASCAR and other sanctioning bodies that sanction auto racing are improving racing safety by integrating new technologies in to the sport. Racing sanctions are beginning to mandate the use of the HANS and Hutchins head restraining devices. New soft walls are being installed at tracks across the country. Racecar frames are now being designed and constructed with built in crush zones to help absorb accident impacts. But the underlying theme is that despite the precautions taken, the sport will always have accidents resulting in minor and fatal injuries.
When an accident occurs on the track the safety crew responds as quickly as possible. They have to either run to the scene of the accident or jump on the safety vehicle. This transition time could take anywhere between thirty seconds to several minutes depending on the size of the track and the location of the accident. Every second is crucial to the driver's well being.
Once the safety crew arrives at the scene they are presented with a mess of mangled race cars. They travel from car to car checking on the condition of the driver in each car. Most accidents involve several cars, but others are upwards of ten to twenty cars creating a large lapse of time till they get to a driver that is seriously injured. To add to the hysteria the safety officials have no clue pertaining to the state of the driver. In some scenarios the driver might be knocked unconscious posing many dilemmas. If the driver is knocked out and unable to communicate with safety officials, improper handling of the driver might substantially increase his injuries. In a lot of horrendous wrecks, the drivers need to be cut out of the car. If a driver cannot respond to the safety crew's questions, the safety crew needs to proceed with caution in removing the driver from the car. There is an answer to these issues. The answer provided by the inventor of the system presented herein is to give the safety crew the ability to know the driver's condition before the safety crew arrives at the accident scene.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention presented here is a system that includes hardware and a remote triage protocol for protecting the driver in a car racing accident. The system is supposed to be universal for all forms of racing. This invention pertains to automobile racing and is directed to safety concerns for a driver and elements that allow a safety crew to assist a driver in the event of an accident. One element of the system is a safety helmet to be worn by safety crew members. Another element is Nomex brand fiber underwear that the drivers wear that will monitor their vital signs. Data sensing wire will be woven into the Nomex underwear along with a flexible CPU chip. This data is then received by two sectors, the driver's crew will be able to monitor their driver throughout a race and so will the safety crew. The safety crew members will be wearing a helmet that uses a virtual retinal display system. The virtual retinal display (VRD) is basically a display that gets projected onto a persons eye at a very high resolution. It does not damage the eye in anyway. The system is light and uses hardly any battery power. The VRD is integrated into the helmet along with communications to “Race Control.”
If a driver is badly injured the Nomex underwear will recognize his severe injuries and instantly call a helicopter or other resource if needed and also send his vital signs in real time to the hospital up to the very minute he gets to the hospitals emergency room.
In a typical scenario an accident involving several cars occurs. The drivers involved will have all their vital signs transmitted to all the safety crew. This vital sign data can come in various forms. The driver's health status will be transmitted to the visual retinal display in a green color, meaning the driver is OK, a yellow color, meaning the driver needs help, or in red, meaning that there is danger. The color is displayed on a symbol over the driver's car. This will allow the safety crew to know who's car to go to first and the instant knowledge of the driver's condition.
It is an object of this invention to provide a system for increasing the personal safety of motor sports competition drivers and motor sports rescue personnel. This is done by implementing the systems and apparatus as set forth in provisional patent application 60/676,2226.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a triage system for the benefit of race car drivers.
It is also an object to provide a helmet that can be worn by safety crews that includes a visual retinal display and communication capabilities.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an artide of clothing that can be worn by a driver that can sense the driver's vital signs and transmit that data.
Another object of the invention is to allow safety crews approaching an accident to determine the status of the drivers involved in the accident.
Another object of the invention is to provide a racing accident integration system to be used by a safety crew and a race driver that comprises a helmet for the safety crew, the helmet having a communication system including a microphone and a virtual retinal display and a driver's suit for the driver. The driver's suit has a vital signs monitor and a communication link to allow communication between the driver's suit and the helmet of the safety crew.
It is another object to provide a virtual retinal display on the safety crew helmets worn by safety crew members that can display vital signs information sent from the driver's suit.
Another object is to provide a communication link to receive life monitoring system information as data transmitted from a driver's suit. This communications link unit can be a remote receiver that will receive information from the driver's suit and process the information.
One further object is to provide a communications link unit that includes an interface informing the safety crew of each of the drivers' condition after an accident and prioritizing the order of attending to a driver based on the severity of each driver's injuries.
Another object is to provide a switch to control the virtual retinal display. When switched this switch allows the virtual retinal display to switch from an initial display panel showing car numbers of cars involved in an accident to a panel showing the vital signs, or the medical history of a driver, of a car involved in the accident.
One further object is to provide a driver's suit comprising fabric that includes sensors sensing biometric information. Further, the sensors may be connected by optical fibers to a multi-function processor.
The inventor contemplates that his invention includes all systems and methods that can be practiced from all suitable combinations of the various aspects of the invention, as well as those disclosed in the detailed description below and particularly pointed out in the claims. Such combinations have particular advantages not specifically recited in the above summary.
The aspects and applications of the invention presented here are described below in the drawings and detailed specification. Unless specifically noted, it is intended that the words and phrases in the specification and the claims be given the plain, ordinary and accustomed meaning to those of ordinary skill in the applicable arts. The inventors are fully aware that they can be their own lexicographers if desired. The inventors expressly elect, as their own lexicographers, to use only the plain and ordinary meaning of terms in the specification and claims unless they clearly state otherwise and then further, expressly set forth the “special” definition from that term and explain how it differs from the plain and ordinary meaning. Absent such clear statements of intent to apply a “special” definition, it is the inventors' intent and desire that the simple, plain and ordinary meaning to the terms be applied to the interpretation of the specification and claims.
The inventors are also aware of the normal precepts of English grammar. Thus, if a noun, term or phrase is intended to be further characterized or specified, or narrowed in some way, then such noun, term or phrase will expressly include additional adjectives, descriptive terms or other modifiers in accordance with the normal precepts of English grammar. Absent the use of such adjectives, descriptive terms or modifiers, it is the intent that the such nouns, terms or phrases be given their plain and ordinary English meaning to those skilled in the applicable arts as set forth above.
Likewise, the use of the words “function,” “means,” or “step” in the specification or claims is not intended to indicate a desire to invoke the special provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6, to define the invention. To the contrary, if the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6 are sought to be invoked to define the inventions, the claims will specifically state the phrases “means for” or “step for” and a function, without also reciting in such phrases any structure, material or act in support of the function. Even when the claims recite a “means for” or “step for” performing a function, if they also recite any structure, material or acts in support of that means or step, then the intention is not to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6. Moreover, even if the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6 are invoked to define the inventions, it is intended that the inventions not be limited only to the specific structure, material or acts that are described in the preferred embodiments, but in addition, include any and all structures, materials or acts that perform the claimed function, along with any and all known or later-developed equivalent structures, material or acts for performing the claimed function.
The inventors of the devices, systems and methods presented herein have compiled a document containing numerous nuances of the invention presented herein. The document details the invention, the background of the invention, some of the art known at the time this invention was made and the sources of some of the products that are integrated into the apparatus, systems and methods of this invention. This undated document or compilation is titled “R.A.I.S. Racing Accident Integration System” and the authors are Jarrett Seng and Blair Sonnen. This compilation of information is herein incorporated by reference into this application and specification related to the invention.
The invention disclosed is a motor sports competition driver protection and rescue system. It includes driver specific apparatus, such as driver head restraint systems, driver helmet systems, driver environmental equipment, driver life signs data communication systems, as well as other nuances related to driver safety, driver biomedical data acquisition and tracking. The system also includes event crew, support staff, including doctor and hospital communication links, and rescue personnel hardware and communication systems that assist rescue personnel in giving a high level of medical attention, and rescue support to a driver, a plurality of drivers or personnel involved in a situation and real time triage and priority assignments to a large group of diverse rescue personnel that need to work together in order to supply the best support to drivers, spectators, other rescue workers, and team members that may be involved in a situation.

IN THE DRAWINGS

The invention is set forth in the following description and drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a representation of a safety crew helmet showing a virtual retinal display and a switch for its actuation;
FIG. 2 is a depiction of a driver's suit, a driver's helmet and a communications link to a transceiver;
FIG. 3 is a representation of interconnection fabric;
FIG. 4 is a chart showing current accident procedure;
FIG. 5 is a chart showing accident procedure as disclosed herein;
FIG. 6 is a stylized representation of the display in a VRD showing vehicles at an accident scene and ancillary information;
FIG. 7 is a panel showing the current state of the vital signs of a driver;
FIG. 8 is a panel showing the medical history of a driver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A summary of the areas addressed by this invention include, but are not limited to the apparatus shown in the illustrations included in this specification which are primarily directed to: personal environmental status sensing fabrics incorporated into temperature and humidity stabilizing clothing that is worn by drivers and rescue personnel to first provide a medium that can sense certain body functions and status as well as temper the effects of heat intrusion on a wearer's body; a safety crew personal communication and environmental protection head gear including visual and audio input and output capability receiving communications from a processing center, receiving a driver's personal biometric information, receiving vehicle identification data, data and communication from other safety crew personnel, triage directors, transport crews, hospitals, doctors and medical evacuation professionals and the like.
Various elements that will be useful in carrying out the object of the invention will be described below.
In one embodiment of the invention the invention includes a racing suit, see FIG. 2, with built in life monitoring modules that will transmit the driver's condition to a device seen by safety officials on the way to an accident. The driver's suit will contain the life monitoring system, wiring and data transmission device. The unit that receives this data, whether it is hand held or clips onto the safety officials belt, will have a built in interface informing them of each driver's condition, prioritizing the order by the severity of their injuries. The data could also be immediately transmitted to the local hospital to allow them to prepare the incoming patient and alert the helicopter if the driver's condition is that severe. By giving the safety crew the ability to know the condition of the drivers involved in the accident, they can prepare for any situation they are presented with. Saving precious seconds and saving many lives.
In the event of an accident, data will be relayed in real-time to a supplied device which is carried by the team and the crew, instantaneously displaying urgent information. The suit and helmet with incorporate sensors at vital points in the body. Research has shown that the brain, neck/spinal cord, wrists, heart, lungs, femurs, knees and ankles are the most commonly affected in a car accident of any sorts.
The inventor's research into safety crews took an in-depth look at several aspects of their work. The first of those being what they wear. Findings laid down some basic criteria of what the data transfer device should be. Basic criteria such as the fact that they wore heavy leather gloves told the inventor that if it's a hand held device the buttons need to be large and accessible.
In doing the research a quote was found that greatly influenced the design, “many people die because emergency service personnel cannot reach then in time to carry out life saving procedures.” Thus it is apparent that safety crews need to know who to go to first so they can get there in time and that they need to be supplied with the proper information to make crucial life saving decisions on the spot. The safety crews order of operations, as shown in FIG. 4, was found to provide plenty of room for improvement. The safety crews steps of operations were: 1. determine what has happened, 2. look for hazards endangering life, 3. look for apparent problems in gaining access and disentanglement, 4. determine immediate emergency care requirements, 5. locate all the victims, 6. consider on the scene capabilities, 7. request additional resources, 8. assign personnel. The inventor wanted to design a system that put steps four through eight after step one. See FIG. 5. This alone would greatly enhance the safety crews order of operations by allowing them to know who the victims are, request resources and assign personnel even before they get to the accident scene.
Safety crews have no prior knowledge of a driver's condition when they are approaching the accident scene. In some instances the driver may be knocked unconscious and unable to communicate with the safety crew. The solution to this problem is provided by a wearable vital signs monitoring system from Lifeguard System; NASA Ames Astrobionics. This device monitors the following signs: ECG, respiration, activity skin temperature, heart rate, pulse oximetry, and diastolic and systolic blood pressure. The wearable device acquires and logs these physiological parameters and can download or stream the information in real time to a base station PC on demand.
One implementation of safety crew data transfer using the Lifeguard CPOD system is provided in the scenario wherein the driver is equipped with a Lifeguard vital signs system sewn to his NOMEX underwear. An accident occurs. The driver's vital signs are sent in real time to the safety crew and the crew chief. The driver's vitals are also transmitted to a hospital. On the drivers arrival at the hospital the hospital has immediate knowledge of the incoming patient's status and history. At this point remote triage system is enabled.
Another way to monitor driver vitals is by using smart underwear. Generally smart underwear is known. Sensatex has developed a groundbreaking Interconnection Technology that allows sensing, monitoring and information processing devices to be networked together in a fabric. See FIG. 3. This outlast technology was developed by Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Textile and Fiber Engineering. The technology can be incorporated into any fabric (cotton, lycra, wool, silk, etc.) or blend of fabrics without effecting the look, feel or integrity of the fabric that it is replacing. The so called “SmartShirt System” incorporates advances in textile engineering, wearable computing, and wireless data transfer to permit the convenient collection, transmission and analysis of personal health and lifestyle data. The SmartShirt allows the comfortable measuring and/or monitoring of individual biometric data, such as heart rate, respiration rate, body temperature, caloric burn, and provides readouts via a wrist band PDA, or voice. Biometric information is wirelessly transmitted to a personal computer an ultimately to the Internet. The smart underwear wirelessly transmits the driver's biometric information to the safety crew's helmet. As shown in FIG. 3 there is a basic shirt grid, generally 136 that included sensors, one of six in this figure identified as 140, optical fibers 138 and a multi-function processor 142. After an accident instant biometric information is sent to the safety crew and ambulance, to a helicopter standing by, and to an emergency room.
Turning to FIG. 1, there is a representational drawing of a safety helmet, generally 110, that would be worn by safety crew members. The basic parts of this helmet are the shell 112, an outer shield 114, an inner shield 115 having a lever 116 to raise the inner shield that tucks away into the main shell. In an alternative embodiment an exterior shield may be movable to cover a wearer's face or to uncover the wearer's face. Movement of this exterior shield it may be more efficient for the wearer to just grab the visor at the top or the bottom to pull the visor closed or to open it. Also there may be a noise canceling boom mike 118 that can be operated by a push-to-talk switch 120, having a raised edge so the user can feel when it is fully depressed and ready for communication. Alternatively the microphone can be voice activated.
A chin strap 121 will serve as part of the retention system. It may be a nylon strap covered in cotton that is breathable for comfort. Alternatively, it can be a chin strap that is lined with Nomex.
The noise canceling boom microphone may be moveable mounted on the helmet to make it easier to talk to a driver, that is, the boom mike can be swung out of the way to talk to the driver. The boom could alternatively be a flexible urethane boom so the user can move it out of the way in need be. In an alternative embodiment the boom mike 118 can be rigidly mounted and thus afford some protection to the face of the helmet wearer.
It is expected that the helmet may have a microphone to record outside ambient sound. Ambient noise is handled by use of a noise canceling microphone which may be mounted in two positions, one in the front such as 144 and one in the back of the helmet in a location near location 146, underneath the outer shell of the safety helmet. It then records ambient noise and directs it to the headset. The microphone specifically cancels out race car engine noise. This allows the safety crew to communicate with the driver at the accident scene. Previously, the safety crew took their helmet off when they got to the accident scene so they could hear the drivers. It will also have interior communications capability. Interior communications may include built in hearing protection cups and a intercom headset.
FIG. 1 shows the virtual retinal display 122. A switch 124 may be used to actuate the display or, as an alternative the VRD may be voice. activated. Optical see through displays are made by Sony and sold under the name Glasstron. Microvision's Virtual Retinal Display holds the most promise for an augmented-reality system. This device uses light to paint images onto the retina by rapidly moving the light source across and down the retina. Retinal scanning display is promising because it has the potential to be small.
FIG. 1 is a helmet embodiment that includes the VRD and the boom microphone but also include a dual visor mechanism having an inner shield 115 and an outer shield 114. In one embodiment the inner shield 115 slides through the outer shell 112 and not the inner shell of the helmet. The inner shield control 116 could be a lever that has at least a portion projecting into the wearers field of vision to allow him to see the lever. FIG. 1 shows a location for a switch 124 for the VRD 122. The switch 124 can be a rocker switch located so the hand of the wearer is not in the wearer's field of view when switching through interfaces.
The driver will be provided with apparel that can sense and transmit biometric information to the safety crew's helmets. As shown in FIG. 3 a section of fabric, generally 136, using interconnection technology developed by Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Textile and Fiber engineering will provide this capability. Smart Underwear, for cooling and heating and for vital signs monitoring, is apparel worn by the driver, allows sensing, monitoring and information processing devices to be networked and sown together within the fabric. The Smart Underwear wirelessly transmits the driver's biometric information. The basic shirt grid 136 may include optical fibers 138 connecting sensors such as 140 to a multi-function processor 142.
FIG. 2 shows the driver's suit 148 incorporating the fabric either in the suit itself or in underwear worn by the driver as discussed above. The driver's suit, or the Smart Underwear worn under it, will transmit, by wireless communication, represented as 150, from the driver's helmet as shown or the drivers suit using the Smart Underwear fabrics, the driver's vital signs to a remote receiver or unit, generically shown as item 152. This unit 152 that receives the life monitoring system information as data, transmitted from the wiring and data transmission device of the driver's suit, will have a built in interface informing the safety officials of each of the driver's condition after an accident and prioritizing their order, that is, the driver order, by the severity of the driver's injuries. In one embodiment of the invention the driver's instant biometric information, or data, is sent to the safety crew and then further to an ambulance, to a helicopter and to an emergency room of a hospital if the drivers condition is severe.
The driver's suit 148 in FIG. 2, will contain the life monitoring system, wiring and data transmission device. The unit that receives this data, such as item 152, whether it is hand held or clips onto the safety officials belt, which will have a built in interface informing them of each of the drivers' conditions, prioritizing their order by the severity of their injuries. The data could also be immediately transmitted to the local hospital to allow them to prepare the incoming patient and alert a helicopter if the driver's condition is ssevere. Life monitoring modules, such as modules “a” through “e.” The most commonly affected in a car accident include the brain, the spinal cord, the heart, knees, ankles, femurs, lungs, and wrists.
In an alternative embodiment to the Smart Underwear alternative, a Lifeguard CPOD system may be used to collect vital signs from the driver. The driver will have a Lifeguard CPOD sewn to his Nomex underwear. This wearable vital signs monitoring system monitors: ECG, respiration, activity, skin temperature, heart rate, pulse oximetry and diastolic and systolic blood pressure. The wearable device acquires and logs these parameters and can download or stream in real time to a base station PC on demand.
At this point the safety crew helmet with communication capabilities and the drivers apparel also with communication capabilities and vital sign monitoring equipment has been discussed. Following is a description of how the safety crew and the driver will work together for the safety of the driver.
Turning now to FIGS. 4 and 5 the current procedure of accident response will be compared to the accident response protocol herein.
In FIG. 4 the steps of response are shown. These are in order of the safety crews order of operations and include the steps of: 1. determining what has happened, 2. looking for endangering hazards, 3. looking for apparent problems in gaining access, 4. determining immediate emergency requirements, 5. locating all the victims, 6. considering the on-scene capabilities of the safety crew, 7. requesting additional resources and 8. assigning personnel.
With the racing accident integration system, shown generally as the list of acts generally 156 of FIG. 5, the acts are reordered. In the racing accident integration system shown in FIG. 5 the order of the acts is: 1. determining what has happened, 2. requesting additional resources, 3. locating all the victims, 4. determining immediate emergency requirements, 5. assigning personnel, 6. considering the on-scene capabilities, 7. looking for endangering hazards, and 8. looking for apparent problems in gaining access. By reordering the acts the safety crews order of operations are greatly enhanced by allowing them to know who the victims are, request resources and assign personnel even before the safety crew gets to the scene of the accident.
In a typical accident response the safety crews will see, in their VRDs, a scene where the actual cars that are involved in the accident will be shown. FIG. 6 is a graphical representation of the scene. The actual cars have been replaced by circles in this figure as a figure with the cars drawn in detail (see the provisional application for more detail) isn't necessary for an understanding of the invention. For instance, race cars numbered 1, 5, 6, 21, 40, 42, 45 and 99 are the car numbers of the cars involved in this particular example. The field of view shown in the VRD is bordered by a border 158. Cars 21 and 42 are outside the field of view however arrows with the car numbers proximate the arrows indicate that these two cars are involved in the accident and will be evaluated by the safety crew and the data for these cars that shows up in the panel 160 at the left of the VRD screen. These cars out of the safety crew user's sight will be indicated by an arrow pointing in the direction of the car along with the coordination driver condition color. In the case of a driver's condition worsening, the color will change and blink. The blinking will be accompanied by a simultaneous sound coming through the headset. The car number will also be moved up the priority list in panel 160. Given this information the safety crew members can begin to communicate with each other about who is going to go where. The safety crews, before they reach the accident scene, will communicate amongst themselves delegating the proper personnel to the correct places.
The interface panel 160 on the left in the screen has the car numbers in order according to who needs to be attended to first. Stylized NASCAR numbers are used as the safety crew could recognize those easier than regular numbers.
When the safety crew reaches the cockpit of a car, they will hit the rocker switch of the VRD to scroll to the next interface, this being interface 162 shown in FIG. 7. As an example, after seeing number 45 glowing red, an experienced EMT was delegated to attend to him. In the cockpit the safety crew member in unable to communicate with the unconscious driver. The EMT looks at the driver of car 45 vital signs in the feature bar and assesses his condition. The safety crew member can see that the driver of car 45 has sustained trauma to three sections of his body ( “a,” “b” and “c”) as shown by the highlighted areas of the figure in FIG. 7. As they extract the driver from the car they know how to be extra careful in these injured areas so as not to further injure the driver.
After seeing the driver's basic condition, the safety crew can hit the VRD rocker switch again to bring up the driver's medical history 164. The feature bar, shown as item 164 in FIG. 8, lists the driver's medical history. It states everything known of the driver from allergies, medications, blood type, current and past injuries, surgeries and family history. Equipped with this information the safety crew can go about making crucial decisions much more efficiently.
With this information at hand the safety crew can quickly and properly extract the driver without further injuring him, have medevac on site and ready and waiting for transport to the emergency room, and lastly, a prepared emergency room for incoming patients.
Returning to FIG. 6 and the user interface design in one embodiment the color displayed over the car coordinates to the driver's condition. Red means that the driver needs immediate attention, yellow means that the driver needs assistance, and green means that no assistance is needed. The color key also applies if a car is out of the safety crews sights.
While the invention has been described with respect to the embodiments set forth above, the invention is not necessarily limited to those embodiments. Accordingly, other embodiments, variations and improvements not described herein are not necessarily excluded from the scope of the invention, which is defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A system for increasing the personal safety of motor sports competition drivers and motor sports rescue personnel comprising the systems and apparatus as set forth in provisional patent application 60/676,2226.

2. A racing accident integration system to be used by a safety crew and a race driver comprising:

a helmet for the safety crew, the helmet having a communication system including a microphone and a virtual retinal display;

a driver's suit for the driver, the driver's suit having a vital signs monitor and a communication link to allow communication between the driver's suit and the helmet of the safety crew.

3. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein the virtual retinal display of the safety crew helmet can display vital signs information sent from the driver's suit.

4. The invention in accordance with claim 1 wherein the communications link is a unit that receives life monitoring system information as data transmitted from the driver's suit.

5. The invention in accordance with claim 4 wherein the communications link unit is a remote receiver that will receive information from the driver's suit and process the information.

6. The invention in accordance with claim 5 where in the communications link unit includes an interface informing the safety crew of each of the drivers' condition after an accident and prioritizing the order of attending to a driver by the severity of their injuries. `

7. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein a switch controls the virtual retinal display and when switched allows the virtual retinal display to switch from an initial display panel showing car numbers of cars involved in the accident to a panel showing the vital signs of a driver of a car involved in the accident.

8. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein a switch controls the virtual retinal display and when switched allows the virtual retinal display to switch from an initial display panel showing car numbers of cars involved in the accident to a panel showing the medical history of a driver of a car involved in the accident.

9. The invention in accordance with claim 2 wherein the a driver's suit comprises fabric including sensors sensing biometric information.

10. The invention in accordance with claim 9 wherein the sensors are connected by optical fibers to a multi-function processor.

11. A method of having a safety crew attend to a group of drivers involved in an accident comprising the acts of:

providing a helmet for the safety crew, the helmet having a communication system including a microphone and a virtual retinal display;

providing a driver's suit for the driver, the driver's suit having a vital signs monitor and a communication link to allow communication between the driver's suit and the helmet of the safety crew.

12. The method in accordance with claim 11 further comprising the act of using the virtual retinal display of the safety crew helmet to display vital signs information sent from the driver's suit.

13. The method in accordance with claim 11 wherein the communications link is a unit that receives life monitoring system information as data transmitted from the driver's suit.

14. The method in accordance with claim 13 wherein the communications link unit is a remote receiver that will receive information from the driver's suit and process the information.

15. The method in accordance with claim 14 where in the communications link unit includes an interface informing the safety crew of each of the drivers' condition after an accident and prioritizing the order of attending to a driver by the severity of their injuries.

16. The method in accordance with claim 11 wherein a switch controls the virtual retinal display and when switched allows the virtual retinal display to switch from an initial display panel showing car numbers of cars involved in the accident to a panel showing the vital signs of a driver of a car involved in the accident.

17. The method in accordance with claim 11 wherein a switch controls the virtual retinal display and when switched allows the virtual retinal display to switch from an initial display panel showing car numbers of cars involved in the accident to a panel showing the medical history of a driver of a car involved in the accident.

18. The method in accordance with claim 11 wherein the a driver's suit comprises fabric including sensors sensing biometric information.

19. The invention in accordance with claim 18 wherein the sensors are connected by optical fibers to a multi-function processor.