There is constant pressure on the designers and manufacturers of automobiles to create new safety features that will better the lives of those who drive and improve their ability to operate their vehicles in a safe, reasonable manner. As each new type of technology debuts, its combination with features that came before it leads to vehicles that are safer than those at any time in previous history which has led to fewer fatal collisions across the nation, despite the fact that the population and the overall number of vehicles on the roadways have increased.
Today, more and more manufacturers are offering forward collision prevention systems in the cars they design as a way to eliminate accidents before they occur. Also called collision mitigating systems, forward crash warning systems, or precrash alert systems, these advances work through radar, lasers, and/or cameras to monitor changing traffic conditions and to take action if a collision is imminent. In some systems, collision prevention will detect a car or other object is in front of a vehicle and will alert a driver to the presence of that hazard if it becomes too close. Through a visual or auditory alert, a driver who may not have been paying attention to the road can be alerted that action is needed immediately to prevent a car accident. In other systems, collision prevention will act on its own and apply the brakes or alter the steering of the car when it detects a forward accident is about to occur.
Though a primitive form of forward collision prevention has been around for approximately 20 years, the technology has only been available in commercial vehicles recently and only in limited models by certain manufacturers. However the presence of these systems means that other safety features are more likely to be available in the car as well, like adaptive cruise control, as the cameras or sensors used can serve multiple purposes. For these reasons, vehicles with forward collision prevention systems are considered to be exponentially safer than those without them.
In Illinois and in the rest of the country, rear-end car accidents are the most common type of collision to occur. They are so common that approximately one out of every two collisions is a rear-end crash and most of them cause damage to the vehicles or people involved. The installation and use of forward collision prevention systems is believed to be able to eliminate almost all of those accidents and could save the nation billions of dollars every year as a result.
Possibly the best news about forward collision prevention systems is that they improve the safety not only for the drivers and passengers inside a vehicle that has such a system but also the safety of all those in other cars nearby. Most of the accidents that will be prevented by this technology involve multiple vehicles so if an at-fault car is prevented from causing an impact with a second, third, or even fourth vehicle, everyone inside all of those cars will be spared the suffering that comes with a collision – even though only one of the cars was equipped with the technology.
Until every car on Chicago’s streets comes with forward collision prevention technology, rear-end car accidents will continue to take place and will keep causing victims to be injured. If you are involved in a crash and you are hurt, make sure you understand whether you have a valid claim for relief and whether a driver or insurance company may be liable for your damages.
Call the personal injury attorneys at Abels & Annes, P.C. toll free at (855) 529-2442 or locally at (312) 924-7575 and let one of our licensed lawyers provide you with a no-cost, no-obligation case consultation regarding your accident and your options if you were injured. Our entire team believes in fighting for those who have been hurt and if you were in a car accident, we want to fight for you today.
Prior Blog Entry:
Passenger Vans Pose a Serious Rollover Risk in Chicago, Chicago Personal Injury Lawyer Blog, published October 6, 2015.