Rear End Collisions Facts
Most traffic accidents are rear end collisions and chances are you’ve either been in a small fender bender or a more serious rear end collision in your life. From these smallest accidents to major collisions, this happens to millions of vehicle owners each year and can cost costly damage repair, lost time and aggravation. Fortunately, vehicle manufacturers are developing new technologies that help reduce these costly collisions.
Why They Happen
The main reason most rear end collisions occur is due to speeding or distracted driving. Distracted driving is the main culprit, however. Aside from the typical distracted driving errors people make, like eating or drinking while driving, the main offender is texting while driving. Many states have implemented anti-texting and driving laws to reduce this. However, it’s still a major problem.
“According to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), out of the 6 million car accidents that happen on U.S. roads every year, over 40% of them (2.5 million) are rear-end collisions.”— Gilreath and Associates blog
Car Manufacturer Safety Technologies
Car manufacturers have developed—and continue to develop—safety technologies for regular cars that are used in autonomous vehicles such as radar, laser (LIDAR) and GPS sensors. These technologies allow the vehicle to detect everything from stop signs, to other cars in the immediate area, as well as road conditions. These systems provide a warning to the driver and if an rear end collision—or any collision—is imminent, the car takes action immediately autonomously, with either steering or braking—or both. These technologies can prevent many rear end collisions that would normally be caused by human error, slow reaction time by the driver and other factors that would lead to a collision.
Less Damage to Cars
The good news about rear end collisions is that the majority occur at low speeds. With car manufacturers making bumpers and fenders out of fiberglass or more pliable materials, there is less chance of major structural damage because of a low-impact collision. Many times the damage is more cosmetic leading to less time in the body shop due to only simple repairs being needed. If the car is still drivable and airbags didn’t deploy the chances of a quick repair are heightened.
The Future
Although nobody can predict for sure what will happen in the future regarding any type of car collision, with new safety technologies being developed, the likelihood of collisions should decrease. In the next decade or so, where it’s predicted up to 60% of vehicles on the road being autonomous, rear end collisions—as well as collisions of all types are expected to be reduced dramatically. Since driverless vehicles have 5 levels of driver involvement—with level 5 having the car being fully autonomous—this makes sense as it takes driver error out of the equation which is the cause of the vast majority of accidents.
If you have a collision of any type, we’re standing by here at Orlando Auto Body ready to help restore your vehicle to it’s pre-accident condition. Just give us a call at 480-428-2783. We’re here to help!
