NEW TECHNOLOGY IS NOW AVAILABLE TO HELP IN PREVENTING CAR ACCIDENTS
Technology has slowly become a part of everyone’s day that is now unavoidable. There are not many people that can say they go a day without having anything to do with technology, and those that can won’t see this! We can now keep in touch with family, friends, and those we work with no matter where we are, at the beach, the mall, or even driving. However, fiddling with any technology while driving, especially a cellphone, is hazardous, and within the last year, it contributes to more than 6,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries, as stated by the National Highway Traffic Administration.
THE KEY TO PREVENTING CAR ACCIDENT WITH TECHNOLOGY IS REDUCING HUMAN ERROR
The top cause for any car accident is through human error. Many auto manufacturers, knowing this, are hard at work equipping their vehicles with various features that will assist drivers in reducing the potential for making mistakes that will ultimately lead to an accident. The new technologies released by the auto industry have helped in reducing the number of car accidents all around the world. Car accidents will likely continue to decrease significantly with all the innovation and future technology available for drivers.
HERE IS OUR LIST OF SOME OF THE TOP TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE NOW THAT ARE ASSISTING IN PREVENTING INJURIES AND CAR ACCIDENTS TODAY:
AEB: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING SYSTEMS
There are two kinds of technologies for brake assistance that fall into the AEB, or automatic emergency braking systems, category. Both of these technologies have been designed to assist with the prevention of injuries due to accidents to the rear-end of a vehicle. Rear-end accidents typically will account for around one-third of all car accidents that get reported every year. Crash Imminent Braking detects when an impending crash with another vehicle is likely to occur sooner and will slow or stop the vehicle even if the driver has not taken any action. Dynamic Brake Support will kick in when the driver brakes, but it will not work hard enough to avoid an accident.
BACKUP CAMERAS
Backup cameras, also known as rearview video systems have been designed to prevent crashes that occur when a driver is backing up. This type of accident often will involve a bicyclist or pedestrian getting struck by a vehicle that is pulling out of a driveway or parking spot. This camera will turn on anytime the vehicle is in reverse and will allow the driver to be able to see the area that is behind the vehicle directly. Due to how highly regarded this technology has been for preventing car accidents, it is now mandatory on all new vehicles manufactured after May 2018.
BLIND SPOT DETECTION
Using blind spot detection will help a driver ensure that there are not any vehicles that are in their blind spot if they are changing lanes. There are some versions of this type of technology that will allow the driver to receive constant updates on their blind spot’s status, and others will only provide warnings and information if their turn signal is on.
LANE DEPARTURE WARNINGS
With the use of cameras, this new safety technology can keep track of the position of the vehicle inside of the lane markings. With lane departure warnings, a warning will appear from the vehicle if it starts to drift when no turn signal is on. This is a great way to get a driver that is distracted to focus on the road again. This warning is also a great way to avoid a sideswipe accident. There are some versions of this technology that will go as far as taking control of the vehicle and ensuring that it stays within the lane for the driver.
FCS: FORWARD COLLISION SYSTEMS
There are a lot of people that end up in a rear-end accident for the simple reason that they were looking at the other side of the road or looking down at their phone. For this situation, FCS, or Forward Collision Systems are a saving grace. This technology allows a vehicle to be able to measure the distance between the car itself automatically and the vehicle that is in front of the car and can then minimize the speed of the car and this will minimize a collision’s impact.
ADAPTIVE HEADLIGHTS
A new and impressive technology that is proving itself by drastically minimizing road accidents is adaptive headlights. This is a type of car headlights that will turn on when the steering wheel is turned. So, how is this helping to avoid accidents? Consider when you turn down a dark road, and a deer jumps out onto the road, or another vehicle is in your path. Using adaptive headlights will allow you to be able to see anything on the road, at all times.
ECS: ELECTRONIC STABILITY CONTROL
Electronic Stability Control, or ECS for short, is a technology breakthrough that does an excellent job at keeping vehicles from sliding out of control, even in climates that are a bit risky. This technology works by reducing the engine power of the vehicle through the application of the breaks to wheels in the event of a run-off-road accident. ECS has proven to be very useful as it can likely prevent around fifty percent of the total rollovers or car crashes.
VEHICLE COMMUNICATION (V2V)
The self-driving vehicles have been a big focus in the automobile sector lately. This type of technology would require vehicles to have a type of communication between vehicles to prevent a collision.
The communication likely would be done through the use of GPS coordinates and other sensors that are new age that might be in development. This technology would need not only to be able to communicate with other vehicles but be able to detect when other road users, for example, cyclists and pedestrians, are within near proximity of the vehicle.
TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEMS
Traction Control Systems can help the elimination of accidents caused by slippery roads. This technology helps to prevent the vehicle’s wheel from spinning out of control at times of acceleration or when the vehicle is starting, in particular when the roads are wet. This is a relatively different technology in comparison with the system for anti-lock braking. Anti-lock braking aims to prevent the brake pads from locking through slowly lowering the pressure applied to the breaks. To ensure that the wheels of a vehicle do not unexpectedly spin when a driver is coming off onto a slippery surface, the torque for each wheel is all reduced at the same time. This technology can lower accidents in vehicles due to reducing the traction in the wheel and assisting in avoiding instability when a person is driving.
10. AUTO-STEERING
There are some cars today that have the capability to auto-steer. However, this does not mean that your car can completely drive itself, but it does mean it can take control of the steering wheel in specific situations to prevent a collision. The vehicle will apply the breaks and steer around the potential object or pedestrian in the path of the vehicle; meanwhile, it will stay within the current lane of traffic. A lot of the auto-steering systems work together with automatic braking systems.
REAR CROSS-TRAFFIC ALERT
A rear cross-traffic alert is like a backup camera. However, it will alert you to any object that is approaching rather than a stationary object. These alerts are helpful as they can let you know if there is an approaching vehicle as you are backing out of a parking space, or warn you of an animal, person, or other moving objects in your way. The alert typically is a warning sound, and indicators will flash on the side mirrors when something is approaching.
ANTI-RECKLESS TEEN DRIVING TECH
Now even if you can manage to keep your teenager from playing with their phone in the car, there are still other temptations for reckless driving with teens. Some want to drive recklessly, and others drive too fast, some of this is to get to where they are going, others do it to have fun. Now there are products to help teenagers think twice about reckless driving. There are add ons for phones with GPS that will alert a parent if the teen is driving too dangerously or too fast; one example is SpeedDemon, IMPROV is the best traffic school in California.
REAR AEB
A vehicle that has the rear cross-traffic alert installed, also often have a rear automatic emergency braking system, also known as a rear AEB. If there is an object detected, the brakes of the vehicle will automatically be applied to prevent the driver from backing into the object.
VOICE CONTROL/BLUETOOTH
Now, this is not a brand new technology, but it is helpful to help stop distracted driving. There are a ton of apps on the rise for safe driving, and they will continually be funded due to a rise in car accidents caused by distractions from phones. In a lot of states, it is now illegal for a person to be on the phone while driving, and this is for good reasons. Now you can connect a smartphone to Bluetooth capable cars automatically, and when a call comes in you can answer it with a voice command. There is also an option to use voice command for mapping directions. Some voice control options can allow you to change the song, change the temperature, and many other options.
ACC: AUTONOMOUS CRUISE CONTROL
For a long time, vehicles have had cruise control in them, and it can make that long distance drives a lot more bearable. Autonomous Cruise Control, also known as ACC is a more advanced version of cruise control technology and it will automatically adjust the speed of your car to help you maintain a safe distance from other vehicles in front of you. That way you can enjoy what benefits you can from cruise control without the need to slam on the breaks constantly to reset it due to other drivers. There is an even more advanced option of cruise control now called Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control, which will gather information from roadside beacons, mobile infrastructure, and satellites to determine the distance between other vehicles and better adjust.