Anyone who has purchased or test-driven a new vehicle over the past few years has seen the dazzling array of safety technology available to today’s drivers. Safety features have moved from what’s called “passive protection” like seatbelts and airbags to “active protection” like lane assistance and crash avoidance features. The ultimate goal of these technologies is not just to protect you in the event of a crash, but to avoid a crash altogether.

A recent joint study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), however, shows that the more comfortable a driver becomes with their vehicle’s automated safety features, the more disengaged they become with the driving process. Because automated safety features do not equal automated driving, these findings can indicate that some safety technologies may actually make drivers unsafe.

Disengaged driving means less attention to the road, a driver’s surroundings, nearby vehicles, and changing traffic conditions. This can increase the risk for car crashes and accidents.

What is an advanced driver assistance system?

You will hear many car commercials or reviews discuss safety technologies in the terms of advanced driver assistance systems, also called ADAS. These types of systems include safety tech like:

• Adaptive cruise control
• Automatic emergency braking
• Blind spot detection
• Collision warnings
• Forward and rear collision warnings
• Lane departure warnings
• Pedestrian detection systems

ADAS technologies work by using sensors and cameras to detect potential collisions before they happen, and alert the driver so they can take action to prevent a crash or runover accident.

How the study worked

In their study of drivers and vehicle ADAS features, IIHS and MIT researchers found that drivers “fidget with electronics and take both hands off the wheel more often as they develop trust in automated systems.” In a similar study two years earlier, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety also found that drivers “with experience using advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) like adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assist, were nearly twice as likely to engage in distracted driving while using the systems compared to when they were driving without the systems.”

Researchers looked at the driving behaviors of 20 volunteers over the span of a month. Drivers became familiar with the ADAS features of one of two vehicles – a Land Rover Range Rover Evoque equipped with adaptive cruise control (ACC), or a Volvo S90 with both ACC and Pilot Assist. The researchers were looking for specific behaviors, including whether and how often drivers took their hands off the steering wheel, or took their eyes off the road to perform tasks in the car, like using their phone or adjusting controls on the console.

Drivers became more disengaged

The results? IIHS Senior Research Scientist Ian Reagan reported that drivers of both vehicles became more disengaged from the driving process as they became more familiar with the ADAS features. Regarding the Volvo, he said, “Drivers were more than twice as likely to show signs of disengagement after a month of using Pilot Assist compared with the beginning of the study. Compared with driving manually, they were more than 12 times as likely to take both hands off the wheel after they’d gotten used to how the lane centering worked.”

As for the Evoque, the study reports that “drivers of the Evoque, who used ACC often, were more likely to look at or pick up a cell phone while using the assistance technology than when driving manually, and that tendency increased substantially as they grew familiar with ACC.”

Regan stressed the following about automated safety systems: “Crash investigators have identified driver disengagement as a major factor in every probe of fatal crashes involving partial automation we’ve seen. This study supports our call for more robust ways of ensuring the driver is looking at the road and ready to take the wheel when using Level Two systems…[rather than] getting lulled into a false sense of security over time.”

At Delius & McKenzie, PLLC, our personal injury attorneys can help if you were injured in a car crash that was not your fault. We work to secure compensation for your injuries and losses. Talk to us today. We serve clients in Sevierville, Seymour, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and surrounding Tennessee locations. To discuss your case, call us at 865-428-8780 or fill out our contact form.