There are an increasing number of technological safety innovations that are intended to reduce the probability that drivers will be involved in auto collisions in Mississippi. Many of these safety improvements involve crash avoidance systems designed to warn distracted drivers who are not paying attention to the road that they are at-risk of being involved in a collision. Distracted driving is a growing epidemic that threatens to surpass DUI as the most significant auto accident safety risk. Unfortunately, there is new evidence that crash warning systems designed to prevent serious injuries and wrongful deaths in car accidents may do more harm than good.
A recent study revealed that high-tech lane departure systems that are intended to prevent distracted drivers from drifting into adjacent lanes may be causing more auto accidents. The lane departure systems, which are currently only available in high-end models, promote car accidents rather than prevent them. The study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reached the surprising conclusion that lane departure warning systems increase the risk of being involved in a collision by ten percent.
The researchers advanced a number of theories to explain the unexpected results of the study. The primary theory was that drivers annoyed by the warning alarms or the irritated by the over-sensitivity of the system in responding to minor side-to-side movement within a lane may simply disable the systems. A similar explanation is that drivers simply grow indifferent to the constant warnings and disregard the alarms. While this seems like a plausible response from drivers that are frustrated or annoyed by these early warning systems, it seems lacking as an explanation for the higher risk of collision. It would seem that disabling the crash avoidance warning would put drivers in the same position as drivers who had vehicles that were not equipped with this technology. This type of explanation would suggest that the car accident risk should be the same for cars equipped with lane departure technology rather than ten percent higher.
The unexpected results of the study are being dismissed as a result of the small sample size. Even the IIHS has indicated that if all cars were equipped with lane departure systems that were used correctly (i.e. not disabled or ignored), the result would be over 7,500 fewer fatal auto accidents annually. Despite the poor showing for lane departure warning systems, crash avoidance systems that warn drivers that they are about to collide with the vehicle immediately in front of them and apply the brakes to avoid such a collision performed much better.
While this technology may still need tweaking, technology that relies on cameras, sensors, radar and computer technology potentially represents a new era in traffic safety. Most existing vehicle safety technology, such as airbags, lap belts and shoulder harnesses focus entirely on reducing the severity of injuries when Mississippi car accidents occur. This new paradigm in traffic safety is intended to not only reduce injury severity and fatalities, but prevent collisions from even occurring. If someone you love is injured or a loved one dies in a Mississippi car accident, our experienced Mississippi auto accident attorneys may be able to help you seek compensation for your injuries or loss of a loved one. At Barrett Law, our experienced Mississippi personal injury lawyers represent injury victims throughout Mississippi. Our law firm has roots that reach back 75 years so contact us today for your free initial consultation at (662) 834-2376 to see how we can help.