Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s matching European standards after years of American roads becoming deadlier while the rest of the world is getting safer. I wouldn’t read anything more into it than “we’d like fewer dead people on our roads”.
Wait, which directive mandates auto-braking?
U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
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Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#22All this technology has the effect of pushing up the cost of vehicles, often for questionable minor safety improvements. Is there a good analysis of why the road safety trend has gone the wrong way in the US lately?
> All this technology has the effect of pushing up the cost of vehicles, often for questionable minor safety improvements.
DoT (and other departments) are required to take the cost of rules into account when writing them. So for example if the cost of putting in a safety rail on a curve exceeds the cost of the lives estimated to be saved at that curve over the lifetime of the rail, it won't be installed.
Different departments used to, and AFAIK still do (though I don't track this), value the price of a life differently. And it's not just the cost of the life; it's the cost of the cars damaged in a rear-end collision.
Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#23Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that not what would happen over time?
That would be a comfort to the bereaved.
If you’re inattentive while going so fast and so close that it’s a fatality rather than a fender bender, you’re already making a big gamble with your safety.
Remember that the background here is 40k dead and hundreds of thousands injured, and costs estimated at close to a trillion dollars annually (what we pay for car insurance is so low that driving is effectively subsidized by the medical system and people’s well-being and productivity[1]). The question has to be whether there are significantly fewer crashes with these systems than without.
1. https://www.economist.com/united-states/2024/01/18/why-car-i...
Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#25Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#26All this technology has the effect of pushing up the cost of vehicles, often for questionable minor safety improvements. Is there a good analysis of why the road safety trend has gone the wrong way in the US lately?
Cell phones. I look around me and at least half of the drivers I see are texting/scrolling, watching videos, or posting Snapchat stories.
Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#27This is already mandatory for cars sold in Europe for some years, it's really no big deal. Before that it wasn't mandatory, but I think it was required the be able to get a 5 star safety rating (which all brands want) so it was very common even before it was mandatory.
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Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#28The only experience I have with automatic emergency braking was with a large box truck several years ago. It was quite horrible, false positives often, and never was necessary. Once it braked for no apparent reason while going downhill around a turn and almost caused us to wreck since the truck didn't turn as well under heavy braking. I hope better implementations exist.
Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#29All this technology has the effect of pushing up the cost of vehicles, often for questionable minor safety improvements. Is there a good analysis of why the road safety trend has gone the wrong way in the US lately?
Cell phones. I look around me and at least half of the drivers I see are texting/scrolling, watching videos, or posting Snapchat stories.
This is true but it can’t be more than part of the explanation: pretty much everywhere else has phones but has seen declining fatality rates.
Re: U.S. to require automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years
#30All this technology has the effect of pushing up the cost of vehicles, often for questionable minor safety improvements. Is there a good analysis of why the road safety trend has gone the wrong way in the US lately?
The cost here is pretty trivial from my understanding. It’s essentially just a vision system that can send a brake command. Aka a camera behind the mirror and a microprocessor.
Much of the other components are already present on modern vehicles.