I just tested a relatively new technology that I’m terming “texting assist,” which helps drivers avoid crashing their cars while texting and driving.
Well, that’s misleading and I apologize. The name of the technology is “lane keep assist” or “lane departure warning,” and it’s available on a majority of car brands, and works like this: A camera mounted in front of the rear view mirror recognizes the center and side lane divider lines and alerts the driver when a car has wandered over one of the two lines. Some systems tug on the steering of the car to encourage the driver to steer back into the lane. It’s not a perfect system — a lot of roads have poorly marked lines, so the systems don’t work on those roads.
Of course, I know that in Michigan it is against the law to text while driving. National studies have shown that distracted driving accounts for 16 percent of crashes, compared to about 3 percent for speeding.
Read Article