Throughout the history of vehicles, manufacturers have worked to improve safety. In the early days, this included adding seatbelts and then airbags and antilock brakes. As time progressed, safety features improved considerably because of the technology that’s available today.
Vehicles now have a variety of features that are meant to help drivers avoid crashes. Advanced safety features today may help to reduce the risk of being injured by around 53% and the risk of being in a serious crash by around 49%. While this may seem like a massive improvement in safety, these features are only safe when they’re used properly.
Braking assistance
Automatic emergency braking is a feature that will apply the brakes if the vehicle is going to slam into something. This feature will be required to be on all vehicles by 2029, but there are some safety concerns because it functions much better at slower speeds. Rear automatic emergency braking functions similarly but applies when the vehicle is in reverse.
Some vehicles also have brake assist, which applies the brakes fully if the driver fails to do so. The issue with this feature is that the brake will release if the drive takes their foot off the brake pedal.
Lane position assistance
Vehicles use a variety of technology options for lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist and lane-centering assist features. They all help drivers to remain in their proper lane unless they signal to change lanes.
Some vehicles use these as part of the semi-autonomous driving system. Semi-autonomous vehicles may be able to control speed, brake and steer without the help of a driver, but these systems are only safe in certain conditions.
The key to using all of these safety systems properly is remembering that they still require a human driver to remain attentive to driving. It’s possible that a vehicle will be involved in a crash even if all these systems are functional. In some cases, crashes are the result of a negligent driver. Victims of those cases may decide to seek compensation for the financial damages they’re dealing with.