Drivers Embrace Lane Departure Systems

Sign up for our weekly email to stay on top of the latest news and insights!

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reveals that a significant majority of drivers are now keeping lane departure warning and prevention systems activated. This shift indicates increased acceptance of advanced safety technologies designed to reduce crashes and enhance road safety.

Key Highlights:

• 87% of drivers keep lane departure warning and prevention systems switched on, according to the IIHS study.
• 70% of drivers maintain visual alerts for speeding activated in their vehicles.
• Automakers’ design improvements, such as using haptic alerts and integrating settings into the vehicle’s menu, have contributed to higher usage rates.
• Activation rates have increased from 51% to 87% for lane maintenance systems over the past eight years.
• Front crash prevention systems are activated in 94% of vehicles surveyed.

The study suggests a growing awareness among drivers that crash avoidance systems can significantly improve safety on the roads. “These results hint at a growing awareness that crash avoidance systems and other technologies can improve safety,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “They also indicate that automakers’ efforts to increase usage rates have been a success.”

Lane departure warning and prevention systems have the potential to address up to 23% of fatal crashes involving passenger vehicles. However, their effectiveness has been less dramatic compared to systems like forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking (AEB), partly due to the lower frequency of the types of crashes they prevent.

Initially, many drivers found lane departure alerts annoying, often turning them off. The new designs implemented by automakers, such as haptic alerts and menu-based activation settings, have reduced this annoyance, leading to higher activation rates. IIHS Research Scientist Aimee Cox noted, “The results reflect a combination of better designs and a growing acceptance of crash avoidance systems, more generally. The new designs make the feature a little harder to turn off and a lot less annoying for the driver.”

The study also found encouraging results regarding intelligent speed assistance (ISA) systems. Visual speed warnings were activated in 70% of vehicles, indicating a higher acceptance than previously anticipated. In contrast, audible speed warnings were only active in 14% of vehicles, suggesting a preference for less intrusive alert methods.

To further increase the use of these safety features, the study suggests that automakers could:

• Deliver vehicles with speed warnings enabled by default.
• Set audible alerts to activate when drivers exceed the speed limit by a certain margin.
• Configure systems to escalate alerts, starting with visual warnings and moving to audible or haptic feedback if speed is not reduced.
• Ensure ISA systems reset to active with each new ignition cycle, regardless of previous settings.

Harkey emphasized the potential impact of increased acceptance: “The increased acceptance of lane departure prevention should translate into larger reductions in crash rates. The same thing can happen with anti-speeding alerts — which these results show are already more popular with drivers than some experts believed possible.”