Do New Car Safety Features Prevent Crashes?

What is Distracted Driving and How Can We Avoid Doing It?

Distracted driving is considered to be any behavior that takes your attention from the road, like using your phone, eating or drinking, playing with the navigation system or stereo, or even turning to talk to the passenger in the seat next to you. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 3,450 people died in 2016 due to distracted driving.

To make people more aware of the dangers of distracted driving, April has been named Distracted Driving Awareness Month. It’s important to understand the behaviors that can lead to distracted driving and avoid them. But the truth is that all of us waver in our attention as we drive. Even if you’re not texting, eating or choosing a new radio station, you might be thinking about something else and not focusing on your primary task of driving safely.

Can Vehicle Safety Features Protect You From Distracted Driving?

That’s where vehicle safety features come in. Over the past two decades, car manufacturers have been adding new safety features like antilock brakes, airbags, and electronic stability control into vehicles to help drivers survive accidents; the implementation of these safety systems has paid off as there have been fewer deaths each year. In fact, in just the three-year period between 2008 and 2011, driver death rates fell by one-third, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Today, manufacturers are focusing more on crash avoidance features to bring those collision and death rates down even further. These include:

• Automatic brakes. Application of the brake if a forward crash is detected and you’re not braking fast enough.
• Forward collision warning. Audio or visual (or both) warning of a possible crash with something in front of your vehicle.
• Blind spot detection. Audio or visual (or both) warning of something in your blind spot.
• Lane departure warning. Audio alarm that sounds when you’ve drifted over lane lines.
• Lane departure prevention. Assists with keeping the car centered in the lane.
• Adaptive headlights. Automatically moves lights up and down — as you go over hilly roads — and left to right — as you go around curves — for better visibility.

In 2015, IIHS research found that drivers in vehicles with these collision safety features in place had 11% fewer single-vehicle, head-on and sideswipe accidents. The features also helped to keep more serious accidents from occurring and led to a reduction in injury crashes by 21%.

If every vehicle on the road had these features in place at the time of the study, more than 55,000 injuries would have been prevented. And while the nationwide implementation of these advanced car safety features would lead to our Kansas City collision centers servicing fewer customers, it’s a worthwhile price to pay in order to save lives.

Can Collision Avoidance Features Prevent Distracted Driving?

There are two problems with crash avoidance features:

1. Drivers rely on them too much and don’t curb their own problem behaviors; and
2. Drivers don’t understand the limitations of the technology.

In the latter case, that means some drivers believe blind-spot detection will always see an obstacle in the blind spot, even though, at high rates of speed, that won’t always happen. It’s important to review your vehicle manual and talk to your dealer to fully understand how the features work and how to utilize them correctly. (They aren’t all created equal!) You, as a responsible driver, still need to look and use good judgment, as well as avoid behaviors (e.g. using your phone) in order to stay as safe as possible on the road.

This April, it’s a great time to make sure you’re not driving with distractions. And next time you purchase a vehicle, consider one with crash avoidance features that can help you keep from a dangerous collision if you do get into a tight spot.

In the meantime, if you have questions about collision repair or need a trustworthy auto body repair shop in the greater Kansas City area, be sure to contact McCarthy Collision Centers for help. Sometimes collisions are unavoidable, and we’re here to help. With Missouri and Kansas auto body shop locations in Olathe, Sedalia, Overland Park, Lee’s Summit, and Blue Springs, McCarthy is the name to trust to get back on the road! Dial 1-800-NEW-AGAIN to schedule an appointment or request a tow.