High-tech safety systems such as automatic braking and lane-change warnings have become standard on many new vehicles, and federal regulations now require back-up cameras on all new cars.
And, regardless of regulations, automakers continually install and improve the devices to meet the market. People want to be safe in their cars.
Now, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has reported that mandatory installation of electronic safety systems on heavy trucks vastly would improve highway safety.
Forward collision warnings and automatic braking would reduce the number of heavy truck rear collisions by 40%, the institute found. And in cases where collisions occur, they would be less serious because impact speeds would be reduced by at least 50%.
Truck crashes killed 4,136 people in 2018, according to the institute.
Automatic safety systems haves been required on European heavy trucks since 2013, and some U.S. companies have employed the technology to increase safety and reduce liability costs.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plan to review the institute’s findings. Congress should prod them to quickly mandate the technology for the good of everyone on the highway.
