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American Traffic Safety Services Association
INNOVATION
Reaching Zero Crashes
“Reaching Zero Crashes, A Dialogue on the Role of Advanced
Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS),” a one-day event held by the
National Transportation Safety Board in D.C., brought together
transportation safety leaders from across the country. ADAS have
been around for decades, starting with antilock brakes and evolving
to include automatic braking systems. The newest ADAS include
blind spot detection, adaptive headlights, frontal collision warnings,
driver alert control and adaptive cruise control. These systems have
increased roadway safety for all road users.
While advanced safety levels can’t be denied, some issues exist with
ADAS, such as inconsistencies between the technologies used by
auto manufacturers and human factor behaviors while using these
systems. In many cases, auto manufacturers have ADAS
technologies in the vehicles that may cause different behaviors by
the vehicle, such as detection distances and stopping times. There
are no industry standards for auto manufacturers to follow yet,
which leads to inconsistencies of the ADAS technologies. This can
be confusing to motorists who drive new cars and are unaware of
the automobile’s system capabilities. Standardization of the ADAS
technologies, auto dealers and driver education are ways the
technology can be used more effectively to keep roads and roadway
workers safe.
When the vehicle begins to make decisions for the driver, such as
braking, human behaviors may begin to change. For instance,
there’s concern that the driver may become overly dependent on the
systems and potentially lose focus on the road. Touch, audio and
visual warnings assist with improving human reactions, but these
systems can potentially annoy drivers with the various beeps and
vibrations coming from the vehicle. Coupled with a system that may
notify the driver too far in advance of a hazard, these annoyances
may increase the driver’s tendency to ignore the safety systems
altogether. Auto manufacturers, research organizations and
software providers for these systems need more information on
human behavioral factors to create systems that optimize the
technology and prevent counterproductive behaviors.
ADAS play a major role in roadway safety, but more action is
needed to improve crash and fatality rates overall. Driver education
and outreach, combined with systems standardization and
improvement based on human factors research, will help ensure
ADAS technologies will be designed to their optimal level.
By ATSSA Director of New Programs Brian Watson
Coming soon...
Watch for it.
innovate.atssa.comBrought to you by ATSSA’s Innovation Council