Distracted driving is nothing new. For as long as people in Georgia have been driving, they have been finding other things to do behind the wheel — fiddling with the radio, eating or even talking with passengers. Most of the discussions on distracted driving might revolve around cell phones, but they are certainly not the only culprit.
Car manufacturers are trying to make the roads safer by installing crash prevention technology in their vehicles. Your own car may have a warning system that alerts you to potential collisions. As a safe driver, you know that it takes more than a warning system to prevent accidents, but for many people they have little to no effect.
Do warning systems actually work?
If a driver comes close to hitting you because they are distracted and only avoids a collision because of his or her vehicle’s warning system, you would call that a win. The other driver might even feel compelled to put down their phone, place both hands on the wheel and focus on the task at hand — driving.
While the alert might have prevented the accident, it probably would not encourage the driver to stop engaging in their other behavior until the system alerted them to another potential collision.
Do these systems encourage distracted driving?
A study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reviewed video footage of test subjects driving cars. One group had a crash warning system while the other did not. Researchers thought they might notice an increase in distracted behavior for the group driving with the warning system.
What researchers discovered surprised them — the warning systems did not appear to affect distracted driving behaviors at all. While the technology was effective at warning drivers of impending collisions, giving them enough time to focus on the road and react, they typically resumed their behavior soon after at rates similar to the group without the system. They were not, as researchers expected, lulled into a false sense of security.
Distracted driving is difficult to combat
Crash prevention technology is effective at just that — preventing crashes. However, it is not that great at changing people’s distracted driving habits, which puts you and everyone else in Georgia at risk for serious injury.
If a distracted driver’s negligence caused your injury, you understand just how traumatizing the experience can be. For dealing with long-lasting pain and suffering, mental trauma and the financial stress of a car accident, a successfully pursued personal injury claim is often the best way to go.
