As you drive around Edmond, Oklahoma City – or any other U.S. city – you probably make use of the tools available to make your journey safer and less time-consuming. Everyone uses traffic signals and traffic signs designed to move vehicles more efficiently and safely and some of us also use GPS navigation systems to find our way around large cities. Still others – especially those driving newer vehicles – make use of automated safety features that help to keep drivers and passengers out of motor vehicle crashes.
According to a new study, safety tech features are paying off. For example, automatic emergency braking has reduced rear-end crashes by 46 percent. And automatic braking when the vehicle is in reverse has reduced backing-up collisions by 81 percent.
“We can make substantial gains in safety through deployment of advanced driver assistance systems such as forward and rear emergency braking, rear cross-traffic alert, and others,” said a research professor at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, adding that “the more automated the system, the greater the benefits.”
Those benefits include fewer crashes, fewer fatalities and less vehicle damage.
Researchers said vehicles equipped with auto emergency braking had about half as many rear-end collisions as those vehicles without the feature.
Another increasingly common safety feature in new cars: active lane control with lane departure warnings. This feature has cut lane-change collisions by 20 percent and lane-change alerts and blind-spot monitoring systems have cut related crashes by 26 percent.
Consumers can expect more automated safety features in the vehicles and years ahead, of course.
Those who have been injured in a crash caused by another driver’s carelessness should contact an Oklahoma attorney experienced in personal injury litigation.
