While fully self-driving vehicles are still something for the future, autonomous car technologies have the potential to have big impacts in the present. This is because there are already some partially autonomous safety features that are out on the market. Three examples of such technologies include: lane departure warning systems, forward collision warning systems and blind spot monitoring systems.
While these systems are available in some modern cars, there use is not yet widespread. What would happen traffic-safety-wise if these features did become widespread in their use? A recent study indicates that traffic accidents could go down significantly.
The study, done by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, estimated that around 1.3 million auto crashes a year might be either reduced in severity or fully prevented if all three of the above-mentioned partially automated systems were in fleet-wide use in the United States. The study indicated such accident reductions, in turn, could result in a savings of anywhere from $18 billion to $202 billion a year.
According to one of the authors of the study, the estimated average per-vehicle cost to get all three of these systems into a vehicle is currently around $600.
What do you think it would take for use of these technologies to become widespread?
The above-mentioned findings underscore that new traffic safety technologies can have the potential to have big overall impacts out on the roads. The findings also serve as a reminder of how high the costs of car accidents can be. Such crashes can subject their victims to all kinds of costs, including: vehicle repair costs, costs of hospital treatment, surgical costs, medication costs, rehab costs, income losses and costs for equipment or home improvements a person needs as a result of the injuries they suffered. The potential of car crashes to have many monetary consequences is among the reasons why compensation-related issues can be such key and impactful ones for car accidents victims following a crash.
Source: Forbes, “How $600 In Auto Safety Features Could Save Up To $202 Billion In Crash Costs,” Alan Ohnsman, July 20, 2016