Citation

Avery M. J. Australas. Coll. Road Saf. 2014; 25(2): 34-36.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Australasian College of Road Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

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Abstract

Autonomous Emergency Braking or AEB is a safety technology which monitors the traffic conditions ahead and automatically brakes the car if the driver fails to respond to an emergency situation. It is one of the most significant developments in vehicle safety since the advent of the seat belt or the airbag. As technology improves, the numbers of fatal and serious injuries on UK roads are reducing. With improved vehicle structures, improvements to the road infrastructure and consumer test programmes such as Euro NAP, the number of fatalities has continued to fall, from over 7,000 in the 1970s to just 1,754 in 2012 in the UK alone. However, some types of injury have been proportionally increasing in recent years - in particular injuries to vulnerable road users and pedestrians. We have also seen a significant rise in whiplash and associated personal injury claims. Auto braking technologies, such as AEB, can help to reduce the kind of incidents that result in these significant injuries by preventing the crash from happening at all.

Language: en