Driver safety has always been a focal point for the auto industry, but car accidents are still a prevalent issue.

In response to this, many auto manufacturers are working on solutions to make the roads safer for everyone on them. Their goal is to minimize accidents and casualties on all public roads.

Even though vehicle safety is at an all-time high, car crashes happen every day. Because of this, you should be prepared to contact a Chicago car accident lawyer if someone else’s negligence causes a crash.

You’re much better off avoiding an accident altogether and this is made easier by safety advances in the automotive industry. We’ll explain what these are below to help you decide if a new car can help keep you and your family safe.

Automated Safety Technology

Arguably the most effective improvements launched by the automotive industry are automated safety technologies.

These are safety features installed on a car that help reduce the burden on a driver to prevent an accident. Automated safety features are created with the understanding that drivers are human and will inevitably make mistakes.

Whether a driver is distracted or slow to react, they might not take appropriate action to avoid an accident when it’s needed. Safety features exist to cover for a driver’s errors and help add an extra layer of accident prevention.

There are several different automated safety features installed on modern cars, but most of them involve detecting a hazard, signaling a warning, and applying emergency brakes if action is not taken.

With this in mind, automatic braking is the cornerstone of automated safety technology. To avoid an accident, the correct response is often to brake and stop before hitting another car.

This is surely something that a driver can do, but their slow reaction can mean that they don’t brake quickly enough. When a car automates this feature, it means that there’s a greater chance of avoiding a crash because it can apply the brakes before a driver does.

Driver Monitoring

Another important feature of modern cars is driver monitoring.

This technology exists primarily to combat distracted driving. This is critical because driving while distracted causes an absurd amount of accidents and is one of the greatest risks posed to drivers today.

A driver monitoring system will watch a driver’s behavior and evaluate how they’re doing. They can detect when a driver isn’t focused on the road and will send an alert telling them to pay attention.

This is called real-time monitoring and is a great way to keep a driver focused on driving. Audible warnings are difficult to ignore and this can help make a driver feel accountable for their actions.

In addition to this, vehicle monitoring can also keep track of driver habits. This includes behaviors like rapid acceleration, hard braking, maximum speed, and total distance traveled.

This overarching monitoring is not as effective at real-time monitoring but helps keep an eye on teen drivers. A parent can keep track of this information and incentivize better driving habits to help a teen driver be safer.

Real-time monitoring is incredibly effective at preventing accidents because it’s like having an authority figure constantly checking your performance.

Crash Testing

The automotive industry is also excellent at conducting crash testing.

This is one of the most important safety tests because it gives a realistic example of how a car will hold up in an accident. When a manufacturer knows what happens to a vehicle during a crash, they can make design changes to make it safer.

Furthermore, crash testing is useful because it also illustrates how a driver and their passengers will fare in a crash. It matters less about how a car ends up, but the fate of the occupants is the top priority.

Modern crash safety is very thorough and can simulate several different accident scenarios. This testing is more effective than previous methods because it can indicate a flaw in vehicle design that only occurs during specific crash conditions.

While crash testing might seem wasteful, it goes a long way toward helping keep car occupants safe.

Self-Driving Research

Lately, many manufacturers have been focusing their research efforts on self-driving capabilities.

As the name suggests, self-driving cars can automate driving features that a human driver would typically manually perform. This depends on the level of automation, but it ranges from automated braking to mostly hands-free operation.

The ultimate goal of a self-driving car is to fully automate a driving trip and to do it safely. If everyone were to use a self-driving car in the future, accidents would likely greatly decrease because human error is left out of the equation.

For now, that isn’t yet a possibility so more research is critical. The current automatic features on the market are useful and effective at reducing car crashes.

Better Education

The last thing that the automotive industry is working on is providing better education for the driving public.

Safer cars and improved technology features are certainly excellent and helpful for preventing accidents. However, the greatest problem with driving safety is drivers.

Humans are required to drive vehicles and their driving skill is essential for keeping the road safe. If someone is a bad driver, then the way that they drive makes the road dangerous for everyone else.

To solve this, the answer is for drivers to have more education about how to drive safely and what poor behaviors they need to avoid.

For example, information about the dangers of drinking and driving or distracted driving is being spread to help drivers avoid these behaviors. It doesn’t mean that everyone will refrain from doing it, but there’s a great likelihood that this information will reach someone and convince them to make better choices.

Education won’t influence everyone into being a better driver, but the people that it does impact make a difference.

Closing Thoughts

The automotive industry is not solely responsible for preventing accidents, but safety advances that they release help make driving safer for everyone.

A few things they do to improve safety include automated safety features, driver monitoring, crash testing, research for self-driving technology, and providing better education for drivers.

While these advances are certainly helpful, you still need to look out for your safety as a driver. Should you choose to buy a car with these automated features, don’t rely on them or a warning system to help you drive.

Instead, make a point of committing to being a safer driver and use these functions only as a backup measure. This double level of protection will help you avoid an accident and keep your family safe!