ROME – Autonomous driving? For over half of British motorists it poses a threat to road safety. And this is the striking result of a study by the UK’s largest independent road safety charity, “Iam RoadSmart”, which revealed that 60% of drivers consider the increasing ability of vehicles to drive themselves a serious danger to the safety of road users. The negative percentage then rises to 66% among women and reaches 64% among drivers over 70 years old.
All of this, the study points out, despite well-documented evidence showing that most road accidents are actually caused by human error, suggesting that giving more control to the vehicles themselves in the future could actually reduce the number of collisions. Iam RoadSmart experts however believe that while self-driving vehicle technology may have the power to improve road safety, this will only be possible if the new systems are used correctly, including through training drivers to understand their capabilities. and limitations.
“Autonomous and automated vehicle technology is becoming an integral part of everyday motoring and while it has the ability to improve road safety, its features need to be fully understood to ensure we don’t rely too much on them,” said Neil Greig, director of policy & research by Iam RoadSmart – Over-reliance on these systems, and lack of training on how to use them, could have a negative effect, with potentially worrying results for both motorists and pedestrians. As an ever-increasing number of vehicle systems take on the tasks that drivers used to perform, Iam RoadSmart is demanding that understanding of automated functions be included in the UK driving test.
While we wait for fully autonomous cars to take the place of human drivers, driver training will be critical to ensure that increasingly automated vehicles are an asset rather than a disadvantage. ” According to UK government forecasts, around 40% of new car sales in the UK could have self-driving capability in less than fifteen years. Concerns however remain over the high cost of research and development making self-driving vehicles too expensive for some, along with possible malfunctions and data security issues.
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