Automotive technology in recent years has largely focused on reducing the number of accidents that take place on the road. There are many different systems in use, such as:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Backup cameras
- Lane departure warning systems
- Forward collision warning systems
- Blind spot monitoring sensors
All of these features give drivers more information or warnings to help them avoid a crash. However, accident rates remain high, with more than 40,000 people dying in car accidents every year. Why hasn’t this technology been able to prevent crashes?
Drivers are becoming complacent
The issue is that drivers get complacent and rely on the technology. This may actually make them worse drivers, so accidents keep happening, even as the tech tries to keep them safe.
For example, a backup camera can be very helpful in a situation where a child runs behind a car before it backs out of the driveway. But these cameras don’t show the full scene. If a driver neglects to look both ways, they could still back into the road and into the path of another vehicle.
Additionally, some drivers trust their safety technology so much that they’ll take risks they otherwise wouldn’t. Say that a driver has an automatic braking system, for example. They may just begin to assume that the car will stop if there’s a hazard, so they’re more likely to get distracted by their phone or try to read text messages, rather than keeping their eyes on the road.
Most car accidents happen because of human error, and all of the safety technology in the world can’t prevent that. Therefore, if you are injured in an accident caused by another driver, you need to know what legal steps to take.