A new study has found that safety equipment couldprevent more than 40 percent of crashes in which tractor-trailers rear-endother vehicles. The survey also found that when the rear-end crashes happened,safety systems were able to cut speeds by over 50 percent, resulting in fewerinjuries and less damage. The survey was a project of the Insurance Institutefor Highway Safety, a research group supported by companies that insure ownersof motor vehicles.
The institute's Eric Teoh did the study. Heexamined crash records from 62 trucking companies that operate tractor-trailersor other large trucks. He found about 2,000 crashes. These systems use cameras,radar and other sensors to watch the roadway. Some are designed to warn driversof dangers, while more complexsystems will stop the truck. Trucks with crash warning systems reducedrear crashes by 44 percent, while automatic emergency braking systems cut rearcrashes by 41 percent, the study found.
The institute called on the federal government torequire such systems on new large trucks. It noted that many truck operatorsare already adding emergency braking on their own. "Rear-end crashes withtrucks and other vehicles happen a lot, often with horrible consequences,"said Teoh. "This is an important countermeasure to that". The studyfound that trucks equipped with a crash warning system had 22 percent fewercrashes than those without the technology. Trucks with emergency brakingsystems had 12 percent fewer crashes.
Teoh said the findings could be valuable fortrucking companies and drivers who are considering whether to get safety deviceson their next vehicles. The institute says U. S. crashes involving large trucksrose by nearly one-third since hitting a record low in 2009. A total of 4,136people died in such crashes in 2018, with 119 deaths resulting from largetrucks rear-ending other vehicles.
用户评论