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Study: Key Driver Aid Causes More Crashes
Drivers using cruise control and adaptive cruise control have an increased chance of being involved in an accident according to a new study.
The investigation by researchers in the Netherlands used data from across the world to examine the impact of various Automated Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) on reducing road traffic accidents. The study looked at 28 different driver aids from basic information systems such as tire pressure monitors to more advanced features including automatic emergency braking.
Each system was categorized according to its function with the data divided into: informing systems with low levels of control and urgency; warning systems with low control and high urgency; intervening systems with high control and high urgency, and comfort-enhancing systems with high control and low urgency.
While informing systems such as tire pressure monitors had no effect on the likelihood of a crash, intervening and warning systems did have positive benefits. Lane-keep assist, for example, led to a 19.1 percent reduction in crashes, while driver-monitoring cut accidents by 14 percent, making them the most effective ADAS devices in the study.
However, features associated with driver comfort had the opposite effect. Standard cruise control was linked to a 12 percent increase in the chances of crashing, while even adaptive cruise control saw a rise in risk of 1.8 percent.
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According to the report these features, which are designed to make long-distance drives more relaxing, make it more likely for the driver to be distracted. An over-reliance on electronics means drivers can become inattentive and unable to react quickly to an emergency situation. The researchers also noted that not all adaptive cruise control systems are equal, with some being less capable of detecting slow moving or stationary obstacles and others not linked to automated emergency braking.
Despite the increase in technology the old adage still applies: Safety begins by checking the nut behind the wheel.
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Just DRIVE it, folks!
The best auto driving system is called a BUS.
The auto braking false stopping for shadows concerns me. One of these times I may get rear ended,
For all the safety items we are still not fixing the root issue. The Driver.
Too many are driving high. drunk. texting distracted drivers, too old to see. etc.
I was sitting at a stop sign in my truck and an older woman turned and hit me head on. Said the sun was in her eyes. Damaged my truck and may have totaled her car. That Toyota folded up and she could not drive it away. I got my truck home.
The Cruze and adaptive is not the problem it is distracted drivers. The human is the weak link but it is the best we have if you can keep them under control and responsible.
Agreed. I see too much distracted driving. Also if you tell people the car can drive for itself in any way, some will just take it as it drives itself. I personally find self driving stuff randomly guesses wrong and panics when there is no emergency but it perceives the possibility. I still mainly use regular cruise or over adaptive. Adaptive even at the closest setting leaves more room in between than I need.
Adaptive for me works well on interstates where I have to pull out and pass and then move back over. Long haul is great. The only negative is if you are not watching you get behind someone 5 under the limit and you often don’t notice right away.
Bust all this electronics and autonomous driving is not going to fix the issue. Even if you mix perfect autonomous with human drivers the humans will make the autonomous crash.
Besides I love to drive where I want, when I want and how fast I feel is appropriate for where I am at.
Even with todays tech we still keep pilots at the yoke of planes.
Even the space shuttle nearly belly landed. They used air speed to decide when to put the gear down. Well that worked well till they got a tail wind. Made it by 3 seconds. After that it was pilot activated.
The people that feel they “need” self driving cars should NOT be behind the wheel, end of story! If you cannot give your time and attention to keeping yourself and others safe on the road, you should not be in control of a deadly weapon.
I use the cruise control in my car on long trips, but I’m still looking around all the time. I think it’s from 55 years of riding motorcycles, with three totaled on the freeway with me on them.
My 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe comes with “adaptive” cruise control. It nearly caused me to get rear ended several times due to automatic braking when you get closer to a car ahead. I was glad that there is a work around for that figured out. I can set it for normal cruise and it’s not a hazard anymore.
Adaptive cruise in my wife’s Chrysler Pacifica has had problems with stationary vehicles in left turn lanes here in TX
Emerg brake application
Could have caused a rear end
I told her to just use normal cruise, but she persists ….
TX needs to do jug handles like NJ ( where I grew up)
I have never used the cruise control on any cars that I have owned. For me there is a difference between riding in a car aand driving it. For those who want the car to do more of the work involved in riding in their car that’s fine, but I;ll stick with the enjoyment of driving mine.
Self-driving is great – instead of wasting time watching the road you can do your make-up, work on fabricating your expense account, or watch TikToc.
Twice in the last 10 days I’ve stopped at a Green light because a milk-truck was running the Red. What ‘feature’ would have saved me?
You mean that all those folks I see doing their make-up, working on fabricating their expense accounts, or watching TikToc are actually in self-driving cars? Huh, I always thought they were in regular vehicles and were just stupid idiots who were endangering themselves and others…
I would like to see the data behind the conclusion that cruise creates accidents. Perhaps it may be skewed in some manner as my personal experience tends the other direction. Maybe it is the improper use of the cruise system and then you cant blame the feature, its the driver. I do agree that there is a wide divergence in the ability of the systems between makers. The collision alert and braking systems I have seen in action are generally very good especially in stop and go trf where many rear enders happen. But i just pay attention, don’t stare at the phone and leave a cushion of following distance so really don’t need it.
My experience with the cruise on my BMW motorcycle is surprisingly good and the newer adaptive version I rode is shockingly excellent, even when I thought it would be just so unnecessary to have. Riding on the slab it is my choice to almost always use it.
Overall, I believe we are a very long ways from full autonomous driving vehicles. A good driver makes so many constant subtle choices all the time it will be near impossible to replicate the actions outside of the interstate road system. Even there, it just wont be able to resolve all the situations that will occur and there have been many accidents caused by tesla drivers using these systems. Why you think muskrat keeps promising it to be just around the corner?
More automation and the more issues it can create. We see this in aviation as well with the more sophisticated the software and autopilot systems, the more likely to make programing errors that can create problems. Releasing excessive automation onto the untrained masses of car drivers will certainly be and in some ways already is an issue that creates less safety not more. Good drivers understand this, poor drivers (everyone other than me) just wont understand or even care much until they crash.
No surprises here.
I have to say that the adaptive cruise control in my wife’s Subaru Forester works pretty well, and I generally use it on long road trips. But it’s just like any other safety/convenience feature- you still have to pay attention to what’s going on around you. I try to forget that some of those safety features are even there so I don’t get complacent. Then they become what they should be: a secondary layer of protection.
You have an extremely mature, common-sense outlook on these systems and their place, which makes you a person that should be allowed to have the benefits that they offer. Unfortunately, we all witness that a VERY small percentage of the populace have your appreciation of what “safety/convenience feature(s)” mean – and I’m not just referring to drivers. Since such systems are meant for the ENTIRE lot of us, unless more folks can take your viewpoint, the systems are more of a menace than a help, IMO.
We also have a Forester and the adaptive cruise works well. It is used mostly on the highway, and never in town. But the brakes are there for a reason and we use them when necessary.
This goes further than the examples here. Thinking that traction control, stability control and ABS will save you as you drive caught a friends wife out a few years back She was positive these would save her even if she was on her cell phone or hands free talking dashboard. She had company, another five vehicles had already ended in the same gully. First she called husband, then got out her phone to document the accident. The vehicles were all extra large size, hers being a Yukon Denali. They all had all those safety features. Roadway was two lanes wide, traffic was light travelling at 100kph. She knew that because that’s what the cruise was set at. Weather conditions, sleet and from what her pictures showed, the road was frozen sleet, aka ice.
Lessen here is that nothing in the world can save stupid. Turn on your concentration when you hit the remote entry button.
As an aside the Yukon was a write off and the Explorer it landed on as well. We have the pictures, nothing survived but the drivers. That was the air bags.
I’m curious as to how accidents that didn’t happen got included into the statistics. And how the statisticians know whether the driver was using cruise control or not. I use cruise control every day and it has never lead to an accident. Am I included in these statistics? Nobody ever polled me. Mark Twain said that the three levels of prevarication were: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics.
Why would crashes that didn’t happen be included in a count of crashes that did happen? I’m struggling to follow your logic. Sounds like you should read the study and not just the headline.