Are Vehicle Safety Features Actually Reducing Car Accidents?

When backing out my Volvo XC90 in a grocery store parking lot in Reno, Nevada, last week, I heard a loud alarm. My car stopped on its own, and another vehicle passed by in the rear view mirror. It turned out that my Volvo XC90 had a radar-based rear collision warning feature, and the device offered an alert if it sensed the risk of a collision.

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are increasing in popularity. The worldwide market for ADAS is expected to rise from $27 billion in 2018 to $83 billion in 2030, a projected annual growth rate of 12%.

ADAS systems may reduce the risk of road accidents by as much as 27%. For example, a research performed by LexisNexis Risk Solutions determined that ADAS vehicles had a 27% decrease in bodily injury claim frequencies and a 19% decrease in property damage frequencies.

What are Advanced Safety Systems?

ADAS systems can help not only while at speed, but also when parking. They’re intended to increase driver safety.

The features include:

• Adaptive cruise control
• Automatic emergency braking
• Blind spot detection
• Collision warning
• Cross-traffic alert
• Forward and rear collision warning
• Lane departure warning
• Pedestrian detection system
• Road sign recognition

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems use cameras and sensors to monitor road and vehicle traffic in real time, allowing a car's driver to be warned of a potential collision. These systems have demonstrated that they are essential safety features that can help to prevent accidents.

Are These Systems Actually Making Cars Safer?

But do vehicles with superior safety systems really transform everything? Most studies affirm that this is the case. For example, the car accident incidence rate for vehicles equipped with blind spot monitoring was 14 percent lower than for cars without it, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Another study indicated that if each automobile sold throughout the country in 2015 introduced blind spot monitoring, 50,000 crashes and 16,000 injuries could have been prevented. The president of the American organization Together for Safer Roads, David Braunstein, says this data.

Corey Harper, a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, reports that his research project has shown that the crash avoidance technology of cars dramatically reduces accident frequency by 3.5.

“If vehicle crash avoidance technologies were deployed throughout the light-duty vehicle fleet, we could see crash prevention cost savings of up to $264 billion, assuming all relevant crashes are prevented,” he says.

Despite flaws, the warning systems stand up to inspection. If you're driving an on-ramp, the system works excellently most of the times, detecting a car that is about to crash. The system quickly detects approaching vehicles and activates the system.

In theory, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems designed to safeguard drivers from accidents is intended to automatically reduce accidents, according to Robin Malhotra, the sales manager of Barrhaven Honda, a Honda store in Ottawa, Canada. We are by no means there, but we have a long way to go. Even though this is still somewhat advanced technology we’re discussing, having cars equipped with AI safety features is a part of the long-term goal of many, if not all, car manufacturers.”

Should You Buy a Car with Advanced Safety Systems?

For some kinds of vehicles, safety technology is a necessity. This is certainly the case for professional drivers, including Uber and Lyft drivers. Bryant Greening, a lawyer who co-founded LegalRideshare, recommends that his drivers use ADAS equipment.

Advanced driver assistance systems have been shown to reduce damage to property and people, allowing drivers to carry on working and earning as much as possible, says merchant William. Investing in more sophisticated safety features right now saves you from being held liable later. Minimizing your liability and damages is the name of the game.

ADAS systems can also be costly not just when you re trading a car. A study by AAA found that vehicles with automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and similar advanced features were expensive to fix. The average repair bill may be twice as high as a regular car following a collision because of expensive sensors and their calibration demands. Even small mishaps can add to $3,000 in additional repair costs, a research study indicated.

What About Car Insurance?

The insurance implications of advanced vehicle safety systems are a little complicated. On the one hand, the technology prevents crashes. On the other hand, it increases the cost of the car and of repairs. that means auto insurance companies have to pay more when there are claims.