Potential safety benefits of lane departure prevention technology

Motor vehicles with advanced safety technologies are rapidly entering the marketplace and the impact of new features are transforming safety on roadways. Among the several safety related technologies currently available in the market, this paper aims to forecast the reduction in crashes with gradual adoption of vehicles with lane departure prevention (LDP) technology. Crash data for the state of Alabama from 2014 to 2016 were used to evaluate the safety benefits of LDP technology. In Alabama, 75% of single-vehicle crashes are the result of lane departure. A 20% effective LDP system implies, whereby an LDP system would prevent a vehicle from exiting a roadway on 20% of applicable instances, would reduce 2.7% and 16.4% of the relevant single-vehicle lane departure (SVLD) crashes by 2020 and 2045 respectively. With increase in the effectiveness of the technology, a greater reduction in crashes was observed. With 100% effectiveness, this technology can prevent 66.5% of SVLD crashes by year 2045. This study presents the first estimations of the number of crashes that could be reduced using LDP and therefore could have significant impacts on public and industry adoption rates of the technology. The results of this study influence policy making and regulatory approaches to improving motor vehicle safety and further recommend education and outreach activities to increase awareness on the benefits of LDP technology.