Math tackles the rear-end collision

William Atkins
Monday, 23 November 2009 18:39

Science - Health

According to U.S. researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, rear-end collisions can be avoided by a simple algorithm inserted into your car’s computer that tells a driver that the car in front is going slower than they are.


According to the National Safety Council (NSC), more than 2.5 million rear-end collisions occur in the United States each year; that’s about 6,850 each day.

Such a statistic makes rear-end collisions the most common car accident in the United States.

And, what is especially dangerous about rear-end collisions is the resulting injury to the neck, what is called a “whiplash” injury.

In any single year, about one in five people (around 20%) involved in rear-end collisions experience whiplash, according to the NSC.

In addition, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) states that the cost of treating neck and back injuries from rear-end collisions is estimated at about $8.5 million each year.

Therefore, engineering psychologists from Georgia Tech decided to study the interaction of the leading driver and the trailing driver in rear-end collisions.

They found that the trailing driver cannot properly gauge the seriousness of the situation when the leading driver is going slower than they are.

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