After being in a car crash in Kentucky, you may be thinking about installing crash avoidance technology in your vehicle. This technology also goes by the name of advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS, and it’s composed of numerous features like forward and rear collision warning, cross-traffic alert, pedestrian detection and traffic sign recognition.
While there are clear safety benefits to ADAS, some studies have expressed concern about the drawbacks. Nevertheless, the global market for ADAS continues to grow. MarketsandMarkets expects it to go from $27 billion in 2020 to $83 billion by 2030.
How ADAS can prevent collisions
The main point of ADAS is to warn drivers of an impending collision with a vehicle, pedestrian or stationary object and then, through the automatic emergency braking feature, avoid that collision if drivers cannot. Other features have their safety benefits: Lane departure warning prevents lane drifting, which could arise out of fatigue or distraction, and adaptive cruise control helps drivers avoid tailgating.
ADAS vehicles are involved in 27% fewer bodily injury claims and 19% fewer property damage claims according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions. Vehicles with blind-spot detection alone are in 14% fewer crashes than the same vehicles without it, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Flaws in the system raise concerns
Still, ADAS has not had all the flaws worked out. Its automatic emergency braking, for instance, can activate unnecessarily, such as when on an on-ramp and the sensors react against a car in the next lane.
Just because cars come with ADAS does not mean drivers are using them; many even prefer to switch them off. Lastly, too many drivers overestimate the capabilities of ADAS, thinking that the features actually make a car autonomous, and this leads to inattentive driving.
A lawyer to help injury victims
Before you think about heading back out on the road, you may want to know if you have grounds for a personal injury case against the other driver. If that driver was distracted, drunk, drowsy or negligent in some other way, you may be entitled to compensatory damages that cover medical bills, vehicle repair or replacement costs and more.