The U. S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the automotive industry have made an agreement to make the automatic braking system (AEB) standard in new vehicles within six years. This braking system is estimated to able to reduce the risk of rear-end crashes by about 40%, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This pact will make more safety features easily accessible to the average consumer, yet many question why federal regulators did not make AEB systems mandatory.
Transportation safety advocates hold the opinion that voluntary agreements have no teeth and are likely to contain less stringent standards. They worry about how the government plans to implement this farther into the feature, with Center for Auto Safety executive direct Clarence Ditlow noting, “Consumers are going to come up the losers in this process.”
Though there is concern of how this agreement will be regulated, Jeremy Carlson, a senior analyst with the research firm IHS Automotive, remarked the universal benefit of this pact is the increased awareness of consumers of new technology that will help them be safer drives.
We are excited to hear of this progress towards safer driving. Unfortunately, rear-end crashes are still occurring everyday on our roads. If you find yourself as a victim of such an accident, our experienced attorneys at the Law Offices of Ronald J. Resmini, Accident & Injury Lawyers, Ltd., may be able to help you. If you need legal advice or representation, do not hesitate to call our Rhode Island offices today at (401) 751-8855.
