{"id":14195,"date":"2022-09-08T02:05:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:05:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/?p=14195"},"modified":"2022-09-08T02:05:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T16:05:45","slug":"can-road-accidents-be-eliminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/safety-2\/can-road-accidents-be-eliminated\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Road Accidents be Eliminated?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, car developments have largely\u00a0upped the game when it comes to\u00a0safety\u00a0aids.\u00a0From AEB being a standard inclusion nowadays, to other items like rear-cross traffic alerts, lane assist, and\u00a0the like now being regular sights.<\/p>\n<p>Manufacturers have\u00a0focused on safety in an effort to appeal to more buyers, but also\u00a0address the issue of fatalities on our roads. And for the large part, historically, auto makers have played a notable role in reducing the road toll. Further innovations and developments are now being spoken of to maintain this momentum, and possibly, eliminate\u00a0accidents on our roads\u00a0all together. But is this really possible?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Future ideas<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There are no shortage of measures being designed as a direct response to car accidents. To name a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Forward collision systems that detect an impending crash;<\/li>\n<li>Adaptive headlights which provide visibility around corners;<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/factor-tech.com\/future-cities\/1125-magnetic-roads-crashes-could-be-eliminated-with-cars-that-stick-to-ground\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Magnetic roads<\/a>\u00a0that \u2018guide\u2019 vehicles;<\/li>\n<li>Communicative vehicles that \u2018speak\u2019 with one another;<\/li>\n<li>And the most prominent innovation, fully autonomous vehicles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>While each of these innovative measures could help reduce road casualties even further, there\u2019s still a very obvious facet missing from the discussion here. That is, we seem to be doing everything to modify technology, but we\u2019re not actually addressing driver behaviour. In fact, we\u2019re looking to bypass the driver to achieve desired results. Is this really sustainable? Some of the early indications from autonomous vehicles are that they are far from perfect.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7918 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/car-accident-1921349_640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Equity and equality on the road?<\/h3>\n<p>Although making technological changes is all well and good, they introduce a disparity between road users. Those who are driving the latest cars equipped with such technology, and those who\u00a0are\u00a0holding onto older vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Even though many innovations eventually become mainstream across all levels of new vehicles, the time for this roll out is often such that new technology features come along. That is, by the time one feature becomes standard across all vehicles, the next \u2018must have\u2019 technology is being fitted into top of the line vehicles. Then the cycle continues.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re also not at a level where we can begin to depend on technology at all costs. That is, drivers should not be taught to become \u2018dummies\u2019 in their cars, oblivious to their surroundings. The fact is, things can, and sometimes do go wrong when technology is involved, and this is unlikely to be any different when installed in a car where external factors can cause a hazard.<\/p>\n<p>This is where an emphasis needs to return to the person behind the wheel, who ultimately, can still cause an accident on our roads by way of being distracted, poor driving habits, a mistake, or through reckless actions. Today\u2019s licencing requirements are indeed far too lenient. Sure, the burden has increased for new drivers who are on their P plates, but the focus is still misdirected.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7919 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/car-accident-2429527_640.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Improving new driver skills<\/h3>\n<p>It is important that new drivers are tested on their ability to drive cautiously and defensively on our roads. This is not a matter for dispute. However, reactive mechanisms have largely been overlooked. That is, if one finds themselves losing control of a vehicle, or in danger of causing an accident, drivers need to be equipped with the necessary motoring skills to avoid, or at least mitigate, the impact of a crash.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, as we proceed down the rabbit hole where we increasingly rely on technology doing all the driving for us, we need to be considerate about the impact this will have on driver behaviour. Technological developments will save countless lives, but until we also address the skills and mindset of the person behind the wheel, we\u2019re still some time away from getting anywhere near zero road fatalities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In recent years, car developments have largely\u00a0upped the game when it comes to\u00a0safety\u00a0aids.\u00a0From AEB being a standard inclusion nowadays, to other items like rear-cross traffic alerts, lane assist, and\u00a0the like now being regular sights. Manufacturers have\u00a0focused on safety in an effort to appeal to more buyers, but also\u00a0address the issue of fatalities on our roads. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[4461,659,21],"class_list":["post-14195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-safety-2","tag-accident","tag-crash","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14197,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14195\/revisions\/14197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}