Driverless Cars Will Reduce Road Accidents In The Future

Over the past three decades, we have seen both car safety and road safety dramatically improve. In the current decade, we have seen a fall in fatal and serious road accidents. However, in 2016 we saw the first rise in these types of accidents. This could be the beginning of a new trend of serious road accidents, however, with the development of autonomous cars in the next generation or two, we could see a practical end to road accidents.

Quarterly rise in road accidents
According to the Department of Transport, we saw a quarterly increase throughout 2016 compared with 2015. In the first quarter of 2016, we saw an increase up to 5,770 fatal or severe road accidents from 2015’s 5,515 accidents in the same period. The first quarter of 2016 was actually the deadliest first quarter we have had in the past five years. 420 people lost their lives.
In the second quarter of last year, we saw an increase up to 6,110 fatal or serious accidents. 460 people died, making it the deadliest quarter on record for last year. In 2015, there were 5,958 fatal or serious accidents in the second quarter and in those accidents, 420 people died. Another tragic increase.

In the third quarter, we saw an increase in accidents, but a decrease in a number of people who died. There were 6,920 serious or fatal accidents on British roads in 2016 and in the same period in 2015, there were 6,402 accidents. In 2016, 450 died in those accidents, which mercifully is down from 2015’s 454 in the same period. It may not seem like a large numerical difference, however, that is four people who are still alive.
These stats are available in full here.

Driverless cars
The future of road safety lies in the hands of driverless car manufacturers. Google is developing their own driverless car and Tesla has a semi-autonomous car with their autopilot mode in their Model S. These cars are huge leaps forward with regards to car safety technology, however, there have still been incidents. Google’s self-driving car was involved in a collision, although it was the vehicle which was at fault. A Tesla Model S on autopilot was involved in a fatal car accident. Tesla has been cleared of any blame, in that case.
If more people were driving a driverless car in the UK in 2016, would those accidents have been averted?
The theory behind driverless cars is to remove the human aspect from driving. Humans ignore speed limits, road signs and fail when it comes to lane discipline on roundabouts and motorways. Computers do not tire, get distracted or break the rules. They rely on cameras and sensors that all the computer to everything around them and what is happening on the roads ahead via GPS.  
Driverless cars will likely be our future and if the systems work as they are designed to by removing the human aspect, then road accidents should decrease and our roads will be safer. It is estimated that 90% of all road accidents will be reduced thanks to the eventual introduction of driverless cars. All it takes is for us totrust in the technology and to wholeheartedly embrace them.

Constantly improving road safety
Whilst this could be a singular yearly rise, we must be vigilant. Improving both car and road safety is of paramount importance.
The number of road accidents will most likely decrease further in the years to come, but we must be concerned with the reasons why they have risen in 2016. If they rise again in 2017, we should raise real concerns about a trend developing.