The world has progressed much when it comes to safety. Wasn’t it not too long ago we had our roofs covered in asbestos and the Romans were making aqueducts out of lead? With advances in science, man is inventing and producing products that can ensure the safety of the users.
Automobiles are no different. With inventions like the airbag to keep people safe during an accident and the headlight to make driving at night safer, there have been many advances. So, is there any new tech that’s preventing car accidents?
The New Technologies
Probably the most preventative tech for accidents is the AEB (automatic emergency brake). This device will detect when there is an unavoidable collision and alert the driver to step on the brakes. If the driver does not, the brakes would automatically be applied to lessen or avoid the car wreck.
This is useful in situations where drivers are distracted by their phones while on the road. I do not recommend this as a replacement for looking in front of you though
One of the most advanced pieces of new technology to keep you safe while driving almost fuses a regular car with a self-driving car. Adaptive Cruise Control uses radar sensors to automatically stay a certain distance away from cars in front of you. All you need to do is set the maximum speed you wish to maintain and the car will keep that speed, applying the brakes when necessary.
Adaptive headlights make driving in dark, rural areas at night much safer. These headlights are linked to the car’s steering wheel and point in the direction you are turning. Seeing around menacing dark corners is much easier and safer with these in your case. If you live somewhere that is very dark at night, you might want these.
To mitigate crashing when changing lanes, blind spot detection is very useful. Blind spot detection is a feature that beeps for the driver when a car has entered the blind spot of a vehicle.
Often confused with parking cameras, rearview cameras act as a better rearview window. Displaying a wide-angle feed of what is behind the car to the driver, rearview cameras give better visibility and more power to the driver to make decisions like changing lanes.
A seemingly futuristic addition to some cars is advanced facial recognition software. This will scan the driver’s face and judge how alert they are. A driver that is not alert and behaving recklessly will be notified by the car through different means. This could be a beep or a vibration in the seat or steering wheel. Maybe in the future, we could be fined for blinking too little at the wheel.
Tire pressure monitoring systems are being implemented in new vehicles to remove the guesswork of when you should put more air in your tires. These systems notify the driver with a dashboard light, and when tire pressure is critical, an alarm.
Is There Any Change?
Car safety technology sounds like a great idea. But is it worth spending more money on research and manufacturing?
Determining whether these features are worth their additional costs requires individually weighing the pros and cons for each driver. Many people are fine with and even prefer cars that offer fewer safety features.
I drove a 2018 Honda Civic equipped with Honda’s safety functionality Honda Sense and while many features definitely improved the experience, some of the lane-keeping assists and auto break features really made the car kind of annoying to drive at times. It was sort of like having someone tug at the wheel now and then, personally. On the other hand, these features do help avoid some accidents. You have to decide if they are worth having or not for yourself.
It is predicted from current trends that if every car came with modern safety technologies, about 20,000 fatalities could be avoided each year. These lives could include you or someone you care about so if you have never experienced a traumatic car related event, be empathetic to those that have and understand why some people would need safety features like these.
Safety features can also add a ton of cost to a car that the consumer would be paying for. Everyone needs to decide what is worth having for themselves.
There is new technology that prevents accidents, and a lot of cars are starting to become equipped with them. Deciding if you need them are not is totally subjective, as there are pros and cons to having and not having car safety features.