Driver Safety is Top of the Agenda for 2018

There’s a reason why automakers, motorists, and government organizations are prioritizing road safety above anything else right now. According to a report from The New York Times, U.S. traffic deaths are rising with approximately 40,200 lives taken in vehicular accidents back in 2016. That was a 6 percent increase from the year before.

Road safety is becoming a priority amongst car customers. A 2017 Autotrader Car Technology Impact Study report has found that at least 70 percent of their respondents prefer safety features over other cutting-edge in-car information or entertainment technology. This reality has led to a momentous shift among car manufacturers, as safety features that were previously regarded as premium inclusions are now part of all units and models. According to the same CBT Automotive Network report, automotive titans like Toyota, Nissan, Chevrolet, and Honda are installing safety features in their vehicles, such as interior cameras, speed alerts, and designated curfew time notifications. Even up-scale car brands like Lexus are making their cars safer for both driver and pedestrians by incorporating hi-tech sensors. If you are currently contemplating purchasing a car, we’ve discussed tips on how to properly discern a car’s safety features to aid the decision-making process in a previous post here on Cotes Auto Body.

Car manufacturers are also looking to integrate crash avoidance technology in their newest models. According to Forbes, automakers Mercedes Benz, Tesla, Toyota, and Volvo have prioritized automatic emergency braking by making it a standard feature in more than half of their models last year. Moreover, Audi, BMQ, Honda, Maserati/Alfa Romeo, and Volkswagen had 30 percent of their vehicles manufactured last year equipped with the same technology (either as a standard or optional). As these features could be the difference between life-and-death, we expect to see a lot more vehicles with this tech in 2018.

Installing technology to improve safety is not just extended to cars. 2018 is the first year that electric logging devices (ELD) were made mandatory for commercial vehicles in the U.S. by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

The logging devices monitor every aspect of the truck’s journey in real-time. The information gathered is available to fleet managers, truck operators, road safety authorities, and other members of the transport and logistics industry to better improve operations and work flow. Fleetmatics revealed that the ELD monitors driver HoS (Hours of Service) which prevents overdriving. As the majority of accidents that happened on the road are caused by fatigued drivers, the ELD will sent out alerts to the driver and fleet company when the HoS are about to be exceeded.

Every year vehicles are getting safer. As automobile companies continue to develop technology that makes all road vehicles safer, hopefully this will have a knock-on effect on the number of road deaths. As the recent developments by automobile manufactures and the U.S. government show, 2018 is the year where driver safety is top of the agenda.

Exclusively submitted to CotesAutoBody.Com

Car&Mind_RJ

By |2018-03-05T16:31:01+00:00March 5th, 2018|Auto|0 Comments

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