The United States has one of the highest car ownership rates in the world. It’s home to more than 200 million vehicles, and the average person owns two. This rise means that the average household can afford vehicles. However, it also means a high rate of vehicular accidents in the country.
It’s unavoidable to have vehicular accidents in a country with millions of vehicles. It’s estimated that about five million vehicular accidents annually. Thankfully, the number of fatalities is much smaller, reaching only about 40,000 fatal accidents. However, this is still a statistic that people cannot ignore.
Communities care about road safety, and many are wondering whether if self-driving cars are the way into the future.
Self-Driving Cars
A self-driving car is a vehicle that can drive itself without human intervention. Google, Tesla, Uber, and many other companies are racing to create the first fully autonomous vehicle. However, the technology behind these vehicles is still being perfected, as some high-profile accidents involving self-driving cars have occurred.
Self-driving cars can drive themselves using a combination of technologies. The first of which is GPS.
GPS
GPS, or the Global Positioning System, is a satellite network that can pinpoint a person’s or object’s location on Earth. This technology allows your car to know where it is and how to get to where you want it to go.
The second technology is Lidar.
Lidar
Lidar is a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to map an area. This technology allows the car to create a 3D map of its surroundings. The third and final technology is computer vision.
Computer Vision
Computer vision is the ability of a computer to see and interpret images. For example, this technology allows the car to identify objects like stop signs, traffic lights, and other vehicles.
These three technologies work together to allow the car to navigate its surroundings without needing a human driver.
The Benefits of Self-Driving Cars
One known benefit of self-driving cars is convenience. Self-driving cars make life more convenient because they can take you from point A to point B without any input. As a result, you can relax or do work while the car does all the driving. This also eliminates the need for you to find parking, as the car can park itself.
Another benefit of self-driving cars is that they could help reduce traffic congestion. Self-driving vehicles can communicate with each other and share information about traffic conditions. This would allow them to avoid congested areas and take alternative routes. This would help ease traffic congestion, making everyone’s commute a little bit easier.
However, one contention regarding the benefits of self-driving cars is that they are far safer. One of the benefits of self-driving cars is that, theoretically, they can reduce the number of accidents on the road.
It makes sense. People are not perfect. They get tired or get distracted, and they make mistakes. These mistakes can sometimes lead to dangerous situations, such as falling asleep at the wheel or being distracted by our phones.
Self-driving cars remove the human element from the equation, making them much less likely to make mistakes. This could potentially lead to fewer accidents on the road. However, this is unlikely, considering that new data links self-driving cars to crashes. Self-driving cars aren’t going to save people from accidents just yet. One of the best options to avoid collisions right now is a rigorous training examination.
Training and Examination
Most crashes happen when people don’t take the extra time to do drive examinations. An online state-approved defensive driving course doesn’t take too much time but can save you from a world of hurt. It can also significantly reduce your costs from accidents.
Another way is to use more public transportation.
Public Transportation
Public transportation is a great way to reduce the number of cars on the road. This, in turn, reduces traffic congestion and the number of accidents that happen each day.
Various public transportation doesn’t even use cars. For example, in the state of New York, the subway system is one of the most popular forms of public transportation.
The final way to reduce accidents is to drive less.
Drive Less
If you drive less, there are fewer opportunities for accidents to happen. This can be done by carpooling, walking, or biking when possible.
These are just a few ways to reduce accidents in your community. Of course, self-driving cars are not the only solution, but they are a step in the right direction. Hopefully, they can improve and become the solution to a safer community.
