Backup Cameras: The Slippery Slope to Accidents?

Backup Cameras: The Slippery Slope to Accidents?

Backup Cameras

As newer cars become ever more sophisticated and loaded with safety features, one feature in the news recently, is the backup camera. Statistics have shown that backup accidents kill nearly 300 per year and injure 18,000 a year as cars are backing up. This mainly is for one simple reason, we have difficulty seeing what is behind the car as the car is moving backward. Obviously conventional wisdom dictates that a quick spot check and better awareness while in reverse would suffice in reducing accidents. The back up camera is designed to simply give us a greater view and awareness behind the car, albeit using a screen that the driver must pay attention to as the vehicle is moving. It would make sense that if the driver has a greater view of the rear of the car, that he or she would be less likely to run into either someone or something. Some cars even have the ability to have the computer to automatically stop the car if the driver fails to hit the brakes in time.

Interesting enough automobile manufacturers for the most part have gotten ahead of the curve and are already installing back up cameras on many of the mid to upper end lines. A recent regulation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration now requires all manufacturers to install the back up camera on all automobiles manufactured starting 2018 model year and later. This small upgrade is expected to add approximately $200 to the manufacturing costs of each car and will be passed onto the consumers in the form of higher sticker prices. Already we have seen a whole host of safety features added over the years that have made car much safer and have saved lives. But we must consider the most important safety feature by far is the driver. Humans possess the most advanced computer yet designed, but slowly but surely we are allowing the car’s computer to take over those tasks before handled by the driver. This is not to say that automobile manufactures should abandon all research and improvements on safety features, but rather learn to integrate them with the driver. The day is coming most likely in a few decades, that all driving functions will be relegated to the computer on the car. Drivers will need to switch the car back to manual control before being allowed to drive, assuming we will be allowed to do so.

Only time and empirical data will allow us to determine whether the back up camera has indeed reduced accidents and saved lives. Most likely the back up camera will be proven to be one of the safety features added that not only will be cost effective, but an integral part of car’s safety features. The danger for us as drivers lies in the transition period over the next few decades as safety features begin to take over more and more driver functions. For example, if a driver is used to having the car give warnings, stop the car, even totally avoid accidents, etc. and then the same driver pilots a car without those features, their senses and abilities will likely have been dulled and those critical skills deteriorated to the point of non-existence. As more computer integrated safety features are installed, especially on the more expensive lines, we can only hope these functions perform as intended for a great deal of importance is placed upon them, namely lives. Otherwise we risk the possibility of letting drivers become less engaged and complacent to the point of being a danger to themselves and others on the road.

By K. Allen Hinshaw

Sources:
USAToday
WBIR

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