Too Little Is Known By Drivers About ADAS
Sunday, 12. March 2023
40 years ago, seatbelts became a legal requirement for front seat occupants – a change that heralded in a new era of road safety.
Backed up by the memorable ‘clunk, click, every trip’ motto, the introduction of seatbelts was the single biggest contribution to safety on our roads.
Fast forward to today and their impact is still felt, but seatbelts are no longer the only innovation keeping us safe.
Today’s vehicles feature a mind-boggling array of acronyms for devices and sensors which do what they can to mitigate the severity of accidents.
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are a suite of technological innovations that feed into our vehicles, from cruise control and automatic emergency braking to self-parking systems and intelligent speed adaptation.
But whereas the simplicity of the ‘clunk click’ slogan, and the easily understandable benefit of seat belts, was integral to improving safety by engaging with drivers and helping get the message across it is the sheer breadth of the systems available, and a lack of clarity around how they work, which causes not only confusion among drivers, but also mistrust too.
Red Corporate Driver Training carried out some exclusive research among 1,000 drivers to seek their opinions on ADAS, and it revealed a huge gulf in knowledge about these systems. We have to find a way to change this.
While 86% had heard of reversing and parking sensors, features such as a driver monitor system (ensuring the driver is alert) and intelligent speed adaptation (linking to traffic signs) only scored 40% and 34% awareness, respectively.
It’s a similar story when it comes to using these systems: 38% of respondents use reverse and parking sensors all the time, while a driver monitor system is used all the time by just 2.8% of drivers.
There are about as many reasons why drivers don’t use them as there are ADAS features. More than half (54%) of respondents say they don’t use them because ‘they like to be in control’, while 44% worry about becoming over-reliant on the technology.
There are other reasons. Cost is, of course, a barrier to some, with the price of buying a vehicle with ADAS fitted (and repairing it) a key consideration.
But most vehicles come fitted with many of these systems as standard now anyway.
The issue is mainly drivers’ lack of knowledge which impedes usage
Many don’t even realise it is in the vehicle, some are scared to try it on their own and others blame the vehicle manual for being too vague.
Others, simply, think they don’t need it, with ‘I feel I’m a great driver’ being a common response when asked about using ADAS.
This is where companies need to assess their approach.
After all, it is pointless to spend extra money on a fleet vehicle equipped with ADAS and then find the systems are not being used because of many of the reasons listed above.
When we asked the respondents what would encourage them to use ADAS, training was the first thing mentioned (either online, in-vehicle or in a classroom) by more than 50%.
This is a stark reminder that while technology improves at an inexorable rate, we mustn’t forget about the people who use it, and just assume that because a vehicle has systems fitted, somehow the issue has been magically solved.
Having the cleverest in-vehicle safety device ever invented is neither use nor ornament if it is not trusted or used by drivers. By Graham Hill thanks to Fleet News
