The Best Ideas to Avoid Pedestrian Accidents in South Carolina
Cameras, radar and algorithms are among technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents, according to researchers.
Nine of 11 small SUVs scored an advanced or superior rating for their use of technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents in the form of automatic systems that can detect and brake for people out walking or bicycling.
That’s according to analyses done and reported by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute (IIHS, HLDI). Those two organizations are nonprofits dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries and property damage — from motor vehicle crashes.
The testing of technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents comes as crashes involving pedestrians are on the rise.
The Governors Highway Safety Association recently reported that from 2008-2017 in the United States, pedestrian accident deaths increased 35 percent, to 5,977 from 4,414.
After adjusting for anticipated underreporting in some state data and considering trends in pedestrian fatalities, the report estimated the number of pedestrian accident deaths nationwide in 2018 to be 6,227.
How technology can help
The technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents include cameras mounted near a vehicle’s rearview mirror and radar sensors in the vehicle’s front grille, which continually scan the roadway and horizon for pedestrians, bicyclists or animals.
The technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents is outfitted with algorithms that classify the objects that have been detected as people, bicyclists or animals, predict the objects’ travel paths and determine the vehicle’s speed in relation to them.
If a crash about to occur, the system should warn the driver and apply the brakes much faster than a human being can.
Vehicles were rated superior, advanced or basic based on their ability to avoid or mitigate a crash with pedestrian dummies in different scenarios at different speeds.
Here’s how the small SUVs fared in the analyses of technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents:
Superior:
- 2018-19 Honda CR-V
- 2019 Subaru Forester
- 2019 Toyota RAV4
- 2019 Volvo XC40
Advanced:
- 2019 Chevrolet Equinox
- 2018-19 Hyundai Kona
- 2019 Kia Sportage
- 2018-19 Mazda CX-5
- 2019 Nissan Rogue
Basic:
- 2019 Mitsubishi Outlander
No credit:
- 2018-19 BMW X1
The analyses consisted of three scenarios. The first involved an adult walking on the right side of the road entering the street in the oncoming vehicle’s path. The second scenario simulated a child darting into the street from behind parked vehicles. In the third scenario, an adult with back turned away from traffic is walking in the vehicle's travel lane near the edge of the road.
The vehicles that were tested in relation to technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents were graded according to their average speed reductions in five repeated test runs on dry pavement.
Tests were done of vehicles using technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents in the scenarios at 12 mph, 25 mph and 37 mph.
The most challenging scenario was the one involving the child. A 45-inch-tall dummy was used to represent a 7-year-old child. The dummy was hidden by a car and an SUV parked on the right side of the road as the test vehicle approached.
No clear line of sight exists for the camera until the dummy emerges from behind the parked vehicles when the oncoming vehicle is about 2 seconds, or 35 feet, away in the 12-mph test or just under 2 seconds, or 65 feet, away in the 25-mph test. When the dummy enters the oncoming vehicle’s path, the vehicle is about 1.5 seconds away.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in a 2011 analysis of crash data from 2005-2009, estimated that pedestrian detection systems could potentially mitigate or prevent up to 65 percent of single-vehicle crashes with pedestrians and 58 percent of pedestrian deaths.
For help with issues related to technology that may reduce pedestrian accidents or personal injury accidents, contact Twenge + Twombley Law Firm of South Carolina today.