Toronto, Ontario — As a new generation of drivers get behind the wheels of increasingly connected vehicles, a new study from the IIHS seems to show that ADAS safety technology has the potential to mitigate 41 percent of crashes involving teen drivers.
“We know these technologies don’t stop 100 percent of the crashes they’re designed to address, but our analysis shows that the potential benefits for teen drivers could be pretty stunning if they were widely used,” Alexandra Mueller, an IIHS research scientist and the lead author of the paper, said in a statement.
According to the report, teen drivers are more than four times as likely to crash on any given outing than a driver over the age of 20.
However, researchers from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) suggest that teens who begin learning to drive with these safety systems at their disposal stand to be safer drivers than those without.
The IIHS study looked at all crashes involving teen drivers that occurred on U.S. roads between 2016 and 2019, focusing on crash scenarios relevant to three crash avoidance features (front crash prevention, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring).
Previous research has proven the efficacy of lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring and automatic emergency braking technology by reducing the types of crashes they’re designed to prevent by 11 percent, 14 percent and 50 percent, respectively.
“Lack of access and lack of acceptance are two major barriers preventing these technologies from delivering on their full potential,” Mueller said.
“Manufacturers should include these features in more vehicles and do a better job of communicating the benefits to parents and teens.”
