Car accidents can wreak havoc on the lives of individuals and families. Being hurt in a car accident can sometimes leave a person significantly impaired and having major care needs. For families, losing a loved one to a traffic collision or having a loved one severely injured in such an accident can be crushing, both emotionally and financially.
While there are legal remedies present that individuals/families impacted by car accidents may have access to, this by no means reduces the horrible nature of motor vehicle accidents and the importance of reducing such crashes.
Many things can help with reducing traffic crashes. One of the big ones is drivers recognizing the great responsibilities that go along with being a motorist and making sure to act safely behind the wheel. Another thing that might be able to help with cutting down accidents is auto safety technologies.
Lately, some auto safety technologies have been appearing aimed at stepping in when drivers don't do what they should when driving. One such technology are automatic emergency braking systems. Such systems are aimed at monitoring whether situations or emergencies that would necessitate hitting the brakes are present and taking appropriate brake-related actions if a driver fails to after being warned of the need to brake.
A recent announcement indicates that automatic emergency braking systems might soon be a very common standard feature in new cars. The announcement, made by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the U.S. Department of Transportation, regards a commitment a group of 10 automakers has made. The commitment is to eventually have all their new vehicles have automatic emergency braking systems as a standard feature. The timeline for the implementation of this commitment has not yet been set.
The ten automakers who made the commitment are: Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Mazda, Volvo, Volkswagen, BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz and Tesla. In 2014, 57 percent of all sales of light-duty vehicles in the country involved one of these 10 manufacturers. Thus, if these automakers ultimately follow through on the commitment, a good portion of the new care inventory in the future could have automatic emergency braking systems. If this does in fact happen, do you think it will result in a big reduction in auto accidents?
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "DOT and IIHS announce historic commitment from 10 automakers to include automatic emergency braking on all new vehicles," Sept. 11, 2015