We occasionally write about the promise of new crash avoidance technologies that could help us avoid needless accidents and injuries. Our Pearland car accident injury attorneys also periodically write about the ongoing problem of drivers of larger vehicles who fail to perceive motorcyclists, particularly on turns, and cause them to crash, often fatally.
Motorcycles represent only about 3% of the vehicles on the road, but they’re involved in 5% of the collisions. And those crashes involve serious or fatal injuries 80% of the time, as opposed to only 20% for cars. So something clearly needs to be done to improve road safety for motorcyclists.
Well, recent months have seen trials of a new technology that shows particular promise in preventing crashes with oncoming vehicles, particularly on turns. A new vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) wireless communications technology allows vehicles to detect oncoming traffic. This summer, the UMTRI (University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute) announced a new trial of the V2V safety technology in motorcycles.
When the other vehicle in your path also has V2V, your V2V WiFi system could detect it even around a blind curve or corner. The Pearland car accident injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC note that where the other vehicle does not have V2V, your system could detect it ahead of you on the road even if you don’t perceive it (for instance, if it’s obscured as you start to turn). The V2V system sets off warnings in the vehicle, or in both vehicles if they both have V2V systems. Sometimes the warnings can activate braking, headlight, and other systems. These warnings could help drivers avoid an impending crash.
The V2V system, also known as a Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) system, is being tested in Europe and the United States. The primary model in use was built by Cohda Wireless of Adelaide, Australia. Cohda built and designed its own WiFi chips using higher WiFi standards, rather than using the off the shelf, consumer-grade chips others are using. The Cohda system demonstrates several advantages over the lower-grade technologies.
Cohda’s technology can connect from 200 meters away rather than 20, and it can gives its warnings more than 6 seconds away from a target rather than less than 2 seconds for other systems. The superior range and functionality provides for additional safety in busy, non-line-of-sight urban conditions and around blind corners and curves. (Ian Porter, GoAuto.com.au, 9/18/2012) Cohda also believes its technology will even function usefully as vehicles travel at or above highway speeds. A loss of functionality at increased speeds has been a limitation with some DRCS systems.
Our Pearland car accident injury attorneys report that the DSRC warning technology could also be advantageously embedded in traffic signals and other traffic signs to reduce the number of deadly intersection crashes and wrecks caused by drivers failing to slow down in time on sharp curves. Over 9,000 people die each year in the United States at intersections. That number represents almost one third of all U.S. traffic deaths annually.
The Pearland car accident injury attorneys at Denena Points, PC mention that BMW has been testing V2V safety systems in Europe since at least 2011, while the U.S. DOT is conducting a trial using 3000 vehicles in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Continue to Part 2 to read about these trials of the V2V WiFi crash avoidance system.