Where Will the Next Generation of Car Safety Devices Take Us?


by Daniel Wright - Date: 2010-08-17 - Word Count: 519 Share This!

Some of the car safety devices being developed currently remind me of the Jetsons. But, it is not fanciful to want cars to be fitted with devices that make moving along roads at speeds of 120-200 kph safer. It is not surprising that the race to develop life-saving devices is coming out of European countries such as Germany where these speeds are common on the highways. As insurance companies will benefit from a decrease in accident payouts, they have a vested interest in seeing the new generation of safety devices become commonplace.

What sort of devices am I thinking of? Well, some are quite fanciful and a long way off being freely available such as cars that can basically drive themselves once you program in the destination. However, parking sensors are great crash prevention devices now available. Fender-benders are all too common and could be reduced dramatically if all new cars were fitted with these sensors. The next generation of sensors will eventually work at speed, and cars will automatically correct themselves to avoid collisions bringing that dream of the self-driven car closer. Watching how some drivers repeatedly cross the white line, I can see that these devices are very desirable.

Ten years ago, many of us would have laughed at the idea that a handheld device would make road maps unnecessary, or that you could use this device to find your way to any street in the heart of Rome or New York City. And now many of us have GPS devices that we rely on.

One big cause of accidents is drivers falling to sleep. Some roads have been built with sensors in the lines that are designed to make an audible sound when driven across and in theory act to wake the driver. But at present a device is being developed that can detect any erratic movement of the kind that occurs when a driver starts to fall asleep at the wheel and will emit a noise inside the car to alert the driver of the danger.

Most of us expect front airbags now and side impact airbags are becoming more common. Anyone who has survived a crash in which the car rolled will be fast to see the benefit of curtain airbags that inflate around the driver's head dramatically reducing deaths due to head injuries. And now several car manufacturers are working on airbelts. These are expected to appear in expensive cars once they have solved the problem of inflating the seatbelts quickly without harming the passenger.

Of course, it is the expensive cars that have all the goodies first. New technology is expensive to develop. Although we may feel envious of the couple down the street who always have the top of the line car with the latest gadgets, there is another way to look at the situation. Those people with more disposable income are the ones who pay for the development of the new devices and safety systems. But eventually, new initiatives 'trickle-down' to the rest of us. Think about that the next time someone glides past you in the latest top of the line car and smile.


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