One thing that many drivers on the roadways want is for cars to have as many safety features as possible. While it is true that vehicles have come a long way since they were first invented, there is always room for improvement. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has recently announced that the safety features under the New Car Assessment Program are expanding.
This latest announcement includes the addition of dynamic brake support and crash imminent braking. Both of those could potentially save lives. When you consider that one-third of the 2013 crashes that were reported by police were rear-end accidents, it is easy to see how these new technologies would be beneficial. These two features would help cars to apply the brakes automatically when there is an imminent crash. If the driver does apply the brakes, the technologies would supplement that braking. This could mean the crash is avoided or the severity of the crash lessened.
Some of the previous features that have been included in the NCAP include seat belts, air bags, automatic emergency braking and vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Frontal air bags are said to have saved around 43,000 lives. Seat belts are said to have saved more than 330,000 lives from 1960 through 2012. That is only a small sampling of the number of lives saved by the features in the NCAP. All told, the NCAP is estimated to have saved over 600,000 lives.
Even with these new safety features, it is still vital for drivers to drive safely. Failure to do so can lead to rear-end accidents and a host of other types of accidents. No matter what type of accident, the victims of the accident might opt to seek compensation for their injuries. If the accident occurred in California, this would occur through the California legal system.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Transportation Secretary Foxx Announces Plan to Add Two Automatic Emergency Braking Systems to Recommended Vehicle Advanced Technology Features” Jan. 22, 2015
