COLUMBUS – Safety technology in new vehicles, like blind spot monitoring or lane departure warning systems, can save lives but the nation’s largest leisure travel organization says its research suggests too many drivers are unaware of the limitations of the technology and that what they don’t know can hurt them.
“Lack of understanding and confusion about these technologies can actually lead drivers to misuse the technologies or rely on them too heavily and can often result in deadly crashes,” Kim Schwind, spokeswoman for AAA Ohio.
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which conducted the research, found that if installed on all vehicles, advanced driver assistance systems, or ADAS, can potentially prevent more than 2.7 million crashes and nearly 9,500 deaths each year.
However, the foundation’s research uncovered some disturbing trends as more vehicles are equipped with the technologies and are being operated by drivers who either don’t fully understand how to use them or are not aware of their limitations.
The foundation commissioned researchers from the University of Iowa to survey drivers who recently purchased a 2016 or 2017 model-year vehicle with ADAS technologies.
“They found that most drivers that have these technologies on their vehicles do not know or do not understand the limitations of these systems,” Schwind said.
For example, about 80 percent of drivers using blind spot monitoring were unaware that the systems do not detect pedestrians, cyclists or fast-moving vehicles, but 25 percent of motorists using blind spot monitoring or rear cross traffic alert systems reported feeling comfortable enough to rely solely on the systems and did not always look for oncoming traffic or pedestrians.
About the same percentage who used forward collision warning or lane departure warning systems felt comfortable engaging in other tasks while driving, the foundation reported.
The foundation’s executive director says manufacturers and dealers should work harder to educate new and used car buyers about how safety technologies work.
“Automakers have an ethical and important responsibility to accurately market and to carefully educate consumers about the technologies we purchase in the vehicles we drive off the lot,” said Dr. David Yang.
Yang recommends that consumers insist on in-vehicle demonstrations of safety technologies, ask plenty of questions and read their owner’s manuals thoroughly in order to understand what the systems can – and cannot – do.