Accident Prevention Technology

With highway fatality statistics refusing to budge, the government is developing technology that can help drivers avoid accidents. Drivers are distracted, fatigued and overstressed—and their driving habits account for 90 percent of all accidents. Researchers are looking at technology to help cut down on tailgating, poor decisions navigating intersections, and rollover and run-off-the-road accidents.

Intersections
Crashes at intersections, according to year-2000 government statistics accounted for 23 percent of all fatalities, (8,500) and 48 percent of all injuries. The Department of Transportation opened a new highway intersection test facility at the Federal Highway Administration Highway Research Center in McLean, VA to study the problem.


The test intersection, the first of its kind in the United States, will be used to develop and evaluate in-vehicle and in-roadway systems that can warn drivers of impending crash situations. Two roads that go nowhere cross on the facility's campus. At the opening demonstration, a number of systems designed to keep drivers from tailgating, running off the road, or meeting a red-light runner were on display. In addition to passenger-vehicle systems, new safety systems for tractor-trailers and buses were also put through their paces.

Smart Signs
Among the new signs being tested are a series of large red lights mounted above the roadway, which begin to flash when a red light runner is detected, to warn motorists with the right of way to stop and avoid a crash. Using sensors embedded in the roadway, a large blinking "No Left Turn" sign lights up when vehicles in the crossroad are too near or traveling too fast for a safe left turn. An in-vehicle system that works with the sensors embedded in the roadway triggers a high-pitched beep and a red light on the dashboard when a left turn is unsafe.


Rural roads are even more dangerous than urban roads. Two-thirds of all highway fatalities occur on rural roads even though two-thirds of all accidents occur on urban roads. Rural drivers entering state highways from farm roads or secondary roads are at the mercy of fast-moving vehicles passing through the countryside. Both UC Berkley and the University of Minnesota are working on high-tech signs placed at rural road entrances that flash when high-speed vehicles are detected too close to make a safe turn onto the highway. These smart intersections are not operating outside of the testing grounds, but are expected to make it into the real world within five years.