A few caveats about new-vehicle safety systems

On Behalf of Johnston Law Offices P.C   |   Nov 13, 2018   |   Car Accidents ,

Decades of research and innovation in automotive safety have resulted in passive safety features such as seatbelts and airbags in every vehicle. Together, those two features have saved untold thousands of lives over the years.

But advancing technology has brought rapid change to vehicle safety features in the past few years; features that help prevent automobile crashes and injuries from happening in the first place. Unfortunately, these effective safety aids come with a couple of important caveats: not all drivers understand how the high-tech features function and don’t know how to take advantage of them.

The Associated Press reports that research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety indicates that “a significant number of drivers with new vehicles don’t know what these new advanced driver safety systems can do.” Other problems exist as well: some drivers don’t trust the new safety systems and still others assume that the systems do far more than they are actually capable of doing.

Online auto information resource Edmunds says the most common of the new advanced safety features include:

  • Collision warning with automatic braking in emergencies
  • Blind-spot monitoring
  • Lane departure warning
  • Rear cross-traffic alert
  • Rear automatic braking

These systems typically warn drivers about potentially dangerous situations, and if the driver ignores the warning, many vehicles will take braking or steering actions to mitigate or avoid crashes.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says the features work. The rate at which drivers cause rear-end accidents drops by 50 percent when their vehicle includes a forward collision warning system.

While that feature and the others are helping make us safer on the streets and roads of Edwardsville and surrounding areas, motor vehicle wrecks and devastating injuries still happen far too often.

If you have been hurt in a crash caused by a negligent driver, contact a law firm experienced and skilled in helping injury victims get maximum compensation for all damages.