Lane-departure warning systems were once exclusive to the most expensive cars but nowadays, they are prolific among a variety of vehicles. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, that is nothing but a good thing.



IIHS vice president of research, Jessica Cicchino, recently conducted a study to determine the effectiveness of lane-departure systems by looking at data from police-reported crashes. What she found is quite remarkable.

The study reveals that the use of such safety systems reduces the rates of single-vehicle, sideswipe and head-on crashes by 11 per cent. Additionally, it reduces the rates of injury in such crashes by 21 per cent. Extrapolating this data, it was determined that 85,000 police-reported crashes and 55,000 injuries would have been prevented in 2015.

Discussing the results, Cicchino said “This is the first evidence that lane departure warning is working to prevent crashes of passenger vehicles on U.S. roads.

“Given the large number of fatal crashes that involve unintentional lane departures, technology aimed at preventing them has the potential to save a lot of lives,” she said.

Previous studies to determine the effectiveness of lane departure warnings have suggested the technology can reduce crashes by upwards of 50 per cent. However, the IIHS believes the key reason why it wasn’t able to achieve these figures is because drivers in the United States frequently turn off lane departure warning systems, despite the safety benefits they provide.

PHOTO GALLERY