The vast majority of car accidents in Montana and around the country involve some kind of human error. Car manufacturers have introduced a range of features in recent years that are designed to monitor road conditions and step in when drivers become distracted or make mistakes, and a recent study reveals that they can be extremely effective. Researchers from the University of Michigan studied accident reports from 10 states to gauge the effectiveness of safety features like automatic braking systems, blind spot monitors and lane departure warnings, and they discovered that they can cut the number of some kinds of accidents almost in half.
The researchers were able to determine which vehicles were equipped with advanced driver assistance systems using information provided by General Motors. They found that vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking systems were involved in 46% fewer rear-end collisions; lane departure warnings cut side impacts by 20%, and blind spot alerts combined with departure warnings reduced lane-change accidents by more than a quarter.
The study is the latest addition to a growing body of research into the effectiveness of autonomous automobile safety technology, but many drivers turn these systems off or choose cars that do not feature them because of the cost or because they find the beeps and alerts annoying. Four out of 10 of the car buyers polled recently by J.D. Power said that they would avoid vehicles equipped with driver assistance features because of the noises the systems make.
Gathering the data recorded by sophisticated car safety systems is one of the reasons that experienced personal injury attorneys may seek to have the vehicles involved in motor vehicle accidents inspected. This information may reveal how fast cars were traveling when they crashed, what their drivers did to avoid an accident and whether systems that could have prevented a collision were engaged. Inspections might also reveal other signs of negligence such as slipshod repair work or neglected maintenance.
