A study of more than 12 million car crashes in the US has proven advanced safety tech – such as autonomous emergency braking and forward collision warning – reduces the chances of motorists being injured by more than 50 per cent.
A landmark US study has found advanced safety technology nearly halves the chances of drivers having a nose-to-tail fender-bender.
The study – conducted on behalf of the Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety (PARTS) – investigated the effectiveness of forward collision warning (FCW) and autonomous emergency braking systems (AEB).
As reported in November 2021, AEB is due to become compulsory in all newly-introduced models in Australia from March 2023, while all new motor vehicles sold in Australia – regardless of when they were originally introduced – will be required to have the technology from March 2025.
PARTS collected data from 12 million police-reported crashes in the US between January 2016 and August 2021. The data was supplied by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The study also accessed vehicle data for 19 models from eight major car-makers (Honda, General Motors, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Stellantis, Subaru and Toyota) built between 2015 and 2020 – representing approximately 47 million cars on US roads.
While these systems are intended as a failsafe rather than to be relied upon, the study showed they nearly halve the likelihood of being involved in a front-to-rear crash, while reducing the risk of injury by more than 50 per cent.
According to the study, vehicles are 49 per cent more likely to avoid a nose-to-tail crash if they are equipped with forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking.
When only forward collision warning is fitted to a vehicle, the chances of a crash are only reduced by 13 per cent.
The study found when both systems are combined, the likelihood of motorists suffering injuries in a crash decreased by 53 per cent – while the warning-only system reduced the crash rate by 19 per cent.
This data suggests that while nose-to-tail car crashes does not always eliminate contact, the technology reduces the speed of the car before an impact, resulting in less severe injuries.
PARTS added serious crashes are also 42 per cent less likely to occur on vehicles equipped with advanced safety features.
The organisation conducted further testing on the effectiveness of lane departure warning, lane keeping assistance, and lane change assistance systems, finding they are less effective than nose-to-tail tech at reducing crashes.
A combination of the three lane-related systems was found to reduce the chances of a crash by nine per cent and the likelihood of injury by eight per cent – however serious crashes were decreased by 16 per cent.
The study found pedestrian autonomous emergency braking systems were considerably less effective than any other safety technology – resulting in a four per cent reduction in overall collisions, and a two per cent decline in serious injuries.
As reported in August this year, the US had the deadliest start to the year in two decades when 9560 road users were killed from January to March 2022 – the highest road toll for the three-month period since 2002.
Last year, the NHTSA recorded the highest US road toll in 16 years, when 42,915 drivers, passengers and other road users were killed throughout the 12-month period.
Between August 2020 and August 2021, Australia’s road toll increased by 1.6 per cent compared to the 12 months prior, with 1126 people dying on the country’s roads.
In September, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) reported 1172 road users had died in Australia from August 2021 to August 2022 – a 4.1 per cent increase on the year prior.
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