The potential pitfalls of advanced safety features

On Behalf of | Oct 31, 2022 | Motor Vehicle Accidents

Many cars manufactured in recent years have come equipped with enhanced safety features that are designed to reduce the risk of a car crash. However, it may be unwise to believe that the presence of such features negates your responsibility to follow basic safety rules while traveling on an Oregon road or highway.

Safety features aren’t infallible

The fact that your car has an emergency braking system doesn’t mean that it will prevent a crash from happening. In some cases, it won’t detect another object until it is too late to do anything other than slow your car down prior to impact. If you’re traveling too close to another car or object, there may not be enough room to come to a stop.

It’s tempting to ignore them

Most features will use lights and sounds to alert you to the presence of another object in your path. Of course, there is a chance that you’ll be alerted to something you already see and have already taken action to avoid. After a while, you may be tired of false alarms and decide to ignore or deactivate warning lights or chimes. As you may suspect, a safety feature is useless if you don’t use it, and this may put you at a higher risk of a motor vehicle accident that you might otherwise have been able to avoid.

You might panic

Traveling on a quiet road or highway may be a rather monotonous experience. Therefore, hearing a warning bell may startle you, which may result in braking, swerving or taking other actions that might increase the possibility of an accident.

If you are hurt in an accident caused by a negligent driver, you may be entitled to compensation. This is generally true even if the defendant’s vehicle had advanced safety features, and it’s also generally true even if those features failed to notify the other driver of an impending collision. A financial award may make it possible to pay medical bills or recoup wages lost while recovering from a concussion or broken bones.