Despite general efforts to increase road safety, annual road mortality statistics are alarmingly high. According to a new American study, relatively little would be enough to reduce them by up to half.
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A new study, backed by an extensive survey by Consumer Reports, argues that simply implanting existing safety technologies in all new vehicles would be enough to reduce road deaths by up to half.
Authorities are already demanding the inclusion of some safety systems in the standard equipment of new models. But if the new cars were fitted with state-of-the-art safety systems as standard, they could save almost 20,000 lives on American roads last year alone.
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„Instead of ensuring safety for all car manufacturers, they often place a burden on people to research, understand and often pay extra for life-saving car equipment,Comments William Wallace, Security Policy Manager at Consumer Reports.
„As a result, it often takes decades for safety technologies to become the standard for all new cars. Politicians should choose another path – one that will save lives now,“Adds Wallace.
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The Consumer Reports study estimates that features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring as standard could save around 11,800 lives a year in the United States alone. Another 3,700 to 7,400 lives could be saved by alcohol prevention technology if it were standard equipment.
However, increasing importance is also attached to the development of vehicle-to-vehicle communication technology, which could save around 1,300 lives a year as standard.
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If all these technologies were combined and included in the standard equipment of new cars, then they could save around 16,800 to 20,500 lives a year on American roads alone. We are not talking about technologies that would fall into the sci-fi genre. Carmakers already mostly have them, but so far they offer them mainly as an optional extra.
„We already have the technology to halve road mortality, and it would only reinforce the current tragedy of the loss of lives on the roads if our leaders fail to ensure that all drivers have them in their cars.“Adds Wallace.
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