Self-driving cars have been billed as the cure-all to road accidents in Oregon and the rest of the country. However, the reality is that they will only partially eliminate road crashes. Unless designers change the way that they build these vehicles, the road safety improvements will not live up to expectations.
A recent study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety shows that self-driving vehicles will only reduce car crashes by one-third. The specific types of car crashes that will be prevented are those that involve errors in driver perception and incapacitation. This is surprising because 90% of car crashes result from driver error. However, self-driving vehicles are also designed with performance and convenience in mind. The other factors will often come at the expense of road safety.
Some of the dangers of self-driving vehicles became apparent in a 2018 incident in Arizona. A pedestrian was killed when she was struck by a self-driving Uber vehicle. The car failed to anticipate that she would attempt to cross the road. This is an alarming sign that self-driving vehicles may also have kinks in their system that can possibly make them dangerous. Some of these vehicles may not be able to account for the actions that other drivers on the road and pedestrians may take. As a result, safety must be the first priority when designing these vehicles.
Anyone who is struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian or a driver may be entitled to financial compensation. This includes when the vehicle is a self-driving one because someone will be held accountable for the injuries that they cause. One who is injured should consult a Portland car accident attorney to learn more about how they can file a claim for compensation and negotiate a settlement that can pay them for their injuries.