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Technology has significantly reduced the number and severity of injuries in car crashes and has brought the motor vehicle death toll down. Still, car crashes remain a leading cause of death each year. Volvo is trying to change all that. The American Genius reports that Volvo has vowed to end traffic fatalities in their vehicles by 2020 by creating a death-proof car.

Volvo plans to build upon existing safety features like backup cameras, advanced deployment of air bags, rollover stability control, and air brake systems that are already found in many vehicles on the road. 

However, even if the technology is promising, The American Genius warns that some things are always uncontrollable, like human error and impaired driving.  As long as there are risky drivers on the road, deadly crashes can still happen and those dangerous drivers should be held accountable for the results. Randall Spivey, a Ft. Myers personal injury lawyer, can assist victims in pursuing claims to ensure that drivers who make careless mistakes or break the rules pay for the losses their behavior has caused.

Volvo's Goal to Make a Death Proof Car

Volvo has not provided all of the details about how it will ensure drivers of its cars and SUVs are able to avoid crashes and avoid deadly injuries if an accident does happen.  However, some of the plans that both Volvo and other automakers are embracing include increased efforts towards automation.

When cars are self-driving or use lots of automated features like adaptive cruise control, crash avoidance, lane-keeping assistants, pedestrian and animal detectors and radar sensors, the chances of collisions caused by human error go down.  Making cars autonomous also means having to think through every single possible scenario that could happen in a vehicle, which could push the bounds of automotive safety. This is forcing car engineers to really think through all the ways crashes can happen in order to avoid them.

It remains to be seen if Volvo will actually be able to make cars and SUVs that provide strong enough protection for occupants to significantly reduce deaths and serious injuries. However, the idea of a deathless car due to technology is not that far-fetched. There are reportedly nine models of vehicles on U.S. roads in which not one single person has died in a car crash over the course of the last five years. 

Further, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has also identified specific features, like auto-braking, that have made a difference. Automated braking, for example, may have reduced rear-end crash rates by as much as 14 percent, according to the IIHS.

Technology is clearly going to benefit motorists, but drivers need to be careful not to become too reliant upon it. Ultimately, it will continue to be the responsibility of every driver on the road to manage his or her own vehicle and obey safety laws. When a motorist falls short and fails to fulfill this obligation, victims can make a claim to recover compensation with the help of a personal injury lawyer from the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. Call us today for help.