Car manufacturers such as General Motors, Uber, Tesla, and Waymo are currently designing and testing driverless vehicles. They aim to reduce, if not eliminate auto accidents. If you’ve been injured in a self-driving car accident, you need to contact an Atlanta self-driving car accident lawyer.
The Atlanta car accident lawyers at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers will evaluate the driverless vehicle crash data. Then, we’ll help you recover compensation for your losses. Our prior victories and our 5-star client reviews validate that promise.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Also, you may fill-out our online contact form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta self-driving accident lawyer. If you’ve got questions, we’ve got the answers.
Self-Driving Cars Are More Harmful Than You Expect
Driver error causes 95% of car accidents. Driverless vehicle manufacturers contend that self-driving vehicles are safer because they don’t drive drunk, or distracted. However, self-driving vehicles are actually less safe because they’re unable to adapt to road conditions that humans easily navigate.
For instance:
- Driverless vehicles often go haywire when traveling through construction zones.
- Some self-driving vehicles react to parked cars as though they’re moving. Other self-driving cars completely ignore parked cars and smash into them.
- Many driverless vehicles cannot handle difficult maneuvers, such as turning left across oncoming traffic.
- In Tempe, Arizona, a driverless vehicle killed a female pedestrian that was walking her bicycle across the road. A human driver would have applied their brakes and stopped to let the pedestrian cross the road. By contrast, the autonomous vehicle reasoned, “I’m not sure what this is; it doesn’t look right to me. I don’t want to stop suddenly because that also contributes to crashes. So, I’m going to plow right ahead.”
Driverless Vehicles May Increase Traffic Fatalities
According to New York City’s former traffic commissioner, Sam Schwartz, there have been at least three deaths related to cars driven in autonomous mode. The self-driving auto industry hid those deaths from the public until the media reported the deaths.
To put those deaths in perspective, conventional vehicles cause three deaths every 260 million miles driven. Self-driving vehicles, by contrast, have only logged between 10-15 million miles to date. Therefore, if the current death rates remain consistent, driverless vehicles will have caused 51 deaths by the time they log 260 million miles. That’s 48 more deaths than conventional vehicles caused when logging the same number of miles – a 95% higher death rate!
The public won’t accept self-driving vehicles unless they reduce the number of annual fatalities by 75-80%, according to international science journal, Risk Analysis. Some optimistic researchers believe that autonomous vehicles can reduce fatal car accidents by 90%. That has yet to be seen.
Self-Driving Vehicles Increase Traffic Congestion
Autonomous vehicles are also dangerous because they worsen traffic congestion in major cities like Atlanta. Why? Because they’re inexpensive to operate as a fleet. When driverless vehicles are operated as a fleet, they’re on the road 80% of time. By comparison, traditional vehicles reside in a parking lot or garage 95% of the time. That will lead to more car accidents unless self-driving vehicles are operated safely and efficiently.
Sam Schwartz disputes the “nonsense hype” from the self-driving auto industry that driverless vehicles can be run “so efficiently close that we can replicate train capacity on the highway.” According to Mr. Schwartz, a train or bus in a dedicated lane can move 100 people in 60 feet. An autonomous vehicle, by contrast, will have 1 person per car (or perhaps zero if the car is en route for a pick-up), and it will move, at most, 2-3 people in the same distance that a bus or train could move 100 people. “The math doesn’t work,” Mr. Schwartz concludes.
Follow the Safety Rules of the Road Today
It may be a long time before self-driving vehicles rule the road. Some forecast that autonomous vehicles won’t outnumber human-controlled vehicles until the end of this century. One of the main impediments to the public’s acceptance of autonomous vehicles is the fact that most Americans continue to enjoy driving their vehicles. Car enthusiasts won’t relinquish their steering wheels without putting up a fight.
In the meantime, all of us need to drive safer. That means:
- Buckle your seatbelt before hitting the road.
- Designate a sober driver if you’re drinking alcohol.
- Only use your smartphone for GPS directions. Make sure that you input the GPS coordinates before you drive.
- Drive the speed limit.
- Make sure that you’re always aware of the vehicles around you on Georgia’s state roads and interstates, including I-85, I-75, GA 400, and I-285. So, you don’t collide with another vehicle and cause a major car accident.
Why You Should Hire An Atlanta Self-Driving Car Accident Lawyer
Nowadays, there’s typically only one blameworthy person in a car accident– the careless driver. Sometimes, the at fault driver’s insurance carrier points the finger at the accident victim to justify its low settlement offer. However, by the time most cases go to trial, the insurance company admits fault and the jury only has to determine how much to compensate the victim.
If self-driving vehicles overtake the road, it will likely be more difficult to recover injury compensation. Now, you have to prove that the driverless car caused the collision because it was defective. Defective product cases take years to litigate and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers Can Help
Most auto accident lawyers in Atlanta will tell you that they handle defective products cases. However, many of those lawyers only handle car collision cases involving driver error – not vehicle error. The self-driving accident lawyers at Graham Scofield Injury Lawyers have recovered millions of dollars for car accident victims, as well as for victims injured by defective products . We’ll help you win justice.
Call us today at (404) 939-9470. Also, you may fill-out our online contact form to schedule a free case review with an Atlanta self-driving car accident lawyer.
