A growing number of Texas car buyers are choosing vehicles equipped with advanced systems designed to anticipate and prevent accidents. However, this technology may not be as effective as they believe. This was the conclusion reached by researchers from the American Automobile Association’s Foundation for Traffic Safety after they polled 1,200 owners of 2016 and 2017 passenger vehicles equipped with advanced driver assistance systems.
The AAA researchers say they were concerned by how little the motorists responding to their poll knew about the key limitations of advanced safety technology like blind-spot monitoring, emergency braking systems and adaptive cruise control. They say that their findings suggest that American drivers may not yet be ready to adapt to vehicles with even more sophisticated autonomous technology.
Eight out of 10 of the respondents did not know that blind-spot monitoring systems often struggle to cope with fast-moving objects, and an alarming 29 percent admitted to engaging in activities other than driving when their adaptive cruise control systems were engaged. Only 40 percent of the motorists polled knew that emergency forward-collision warning systems did not automatically apply their brakes.
The researchers insisted that this kind of technology does have the potential to save many lives. Therefore, AAA says carmakers and legislators should do a better job of explaining its merits and limitations to consumers.
Technology designed to avoid and prevent accidents also collects vast amounts of data. This electronic evidence could help a personal injury attorney establish recklessness and liability in a car accident lawsuit. For example, tech could reveal that posted speed limits were being exceeded at the time of a crash or brakes were applied late or not at all.
