When you walk into a Mount Laurel new car dealership, you will be shown the latest advances in automotive design and engineering. One of the selling points salespeople stress about many 2021 models are the vehicles’ advanced safety features that are designed to prevent motor vehicle crashes that can result in serious injuries and fatalities.
Because Americans today are more concerned than ever about keeping themselves and their loved ones safe, Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) are gaining in popularity. Market research projects that sales of vehicles with the systems will rise an average of 12 percent annually over the coming decade.
What’s an Advanced Driving Assist System?
The high-tech systems assist drivers not only while vehicles are moving at roadway speeds, but also when you’re trying to park or safely negotiate the grocery store parking lot. ADAS features include:
- Automatic emergency braking
- Blind-spot detection
- Adaptive cruise control
- Forward and rear collision warnings
- Lane departure alerts
- Cross-traffic alerts
- Pedestrian detection, alerts and braking
- Road-sign recognition
ADAS use an array of cameras and sensors to detect potential crashes and driving hazards and then alert the driver. The safety systems are also designed to brake your car in emergencies to avoid collisions with other vehicles or a pedestrian.
Does advanced safety gear really work?
There’s a growing body of research and data indicating that yes, ADAS really do help drivers avoid violent collisions.
Research by LexisNexis Risk Solutions determined that ADAS-equipped vehicles result in a 27 percent reduction in bodily injury insurance claims and a 19 percent reduction in the frequency of property damage claims.
More research
According to Forbes, a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the crash-involvement frequency for vehicles equipped with blind-spot monitoring are 14 percent lower than in the same models without the monitoring system.
The same study suggested that if every U.S. vehicle in 2015 had been equipped with blind-spot monitoring, about 50,000 crashes could have been avoided.
A Carnegie Mellon University researcher said his analysis of auto crash data showed that ADAS tech reduced road accident frequency by 3.5 percent.
Looking ahead
Auto industry observers say the hope is that as advanced auto safety systems grow in popularity, prices on some of equipment will drop, which will in turn spur automakers to include them in more vehicles and encourage more consumers to buy them.
Is the future all rosy and safe? If we’ve learned anything in 2020, it’s that we shouldn’t take safety for granted. But there’s certainly reason to hope that the near future will include smarter, safer cars and fewer deadly crashes.