Because 90 percent of all driving accidents are caused by operator error, automating vehicles through onboard computers would reduce injuries, deaths, and related costs by staggering amounts, according to a study released last week by the nonprofit Eno Center for Transportation.
Alcohol, drugs, inexperience, speeding, and wet or icy roads can all contribute to an accident. If computers controlled vehicles, they could sense and anticipate road conditions and objects around them, helping to avoid accidents, the study showed. In fact, if just 10 percent of all vehicles in the U.S. were self-driving, the number accidents each year would be cut by 211,000; 1100 lives would be saved; and economic costs would be cut by $22.7 billion, the study said.
If 90 percent of vehicles in the U.S. were self-driving, as many as 4.2 million accidents could be avoided, saving 21,700 lives and $450 billion in related costs.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 40 percent of fatal crashes are the result of alcohol or drug use, driver distraction and/or fatigue. Since computers don't drink or do drugs and they don't become distracted or tired, their use in vehicles would dramatically reduce fatalities, the study concluded.
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