Why Law Enforcement Vehicles Need Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
Police officers spend most of their time making countries safer. Unfortunately, vehicle crashes are some of the major causes of police officers’ deaths. The vast majority of these deaths occur because police officers use in-vehicle technologies on the road. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems can improve the safety of police officers by eliminating some responsibilities of the drivers when it comes to vehicle control.
The current Advanced Driver Assistance Systems in law enforcement vehicles can enable them to adapt to different emergencies. They can also provide crucial, multi-modal alerts. Unfortunately, many law enforcement vehicles are yet to be fitted with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.
Law enforcement officers encounter the same challenges with fleet drivers. For instance, they spend a lot of time in vehicles. Some are in their vehicles during the day and at night. Collectively, some law enforcement officers drive thousands or millions of miles every month. Nevertheless, they face unique challenges in their profession.
For instance, some law enforcement officers encounter distractions like enforcing the law, watching out for disturbances, and car technology among others. These distractions can cause collisions that can lead to serious injuries.
How Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Can Benefit Law Enforcement Fleets
The safety of law enforcement officers is of the utmost importance. Since these officers dedicate their lives to ensuring the safety of the community, it’s the responsibility of that community to ensure their safety while doing their job. Embracing the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems’ technologies will ensure that these officers have an advantage on the road.
For instance, some of the technologies that are incorporated in the ADAS analyzes the forward collision risk, following/headway time, lane departure, pedestrian hazards, and excessive speed. Upon detecting a threat, ADAS can emit audible and visual alerts. And this happens in real-time, thereby allowing the police officers to prevent or avoid a collision. If the corrosion is impossible to avoid, the officers can mitigate the severity. Although this happens in a few seconds, it is usually critical to the officers’ safety when driving.
Law enforcement officers also have a major responsibility for maintaining and operating fleet vehicles. This is among the most expensive and the highest risk for most law enforcement officers. Collisions are associated with costs that have increased the insurance premiums of the law enforcement officers and vehicle repairs.
Crash payout alone can cost at least $300,000 if serious injuries are involved and the law enforcement officer is found responsible. Eliminating a single collision, therefore, by embracing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems is worth the investment. It also provides much-needed safety for law enforcement officers.
Customized Solutions
Effective Advanced Driver Assistance Systems should have features that adapt to different situations. In some situations, some alerts from the Advanced Driver Assistance System can distract law enforcement officers. As such, the systems that are fitted in the law enforcement vehicles should be customized to suit their needs. For instance, these systems can come with a feature that allows the officers to switch them to a pursuit mode. While in this mode, the systems should keep the officers safe.
Upon turning the siren and emergency lights on, some alerts become can become irrelevant because of the emergency. Such alerts can include the departure lane. As such, a customized system should mute such alerts automatically once the siren and emergency lights have been turned on.
The only alerts that are critical and, therefore, should be exempted are the ones for avoiding an imminent collision with a cyclist, another vehicle, and a pedestrian. Customization of the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems can allow the police officers to pay their attention to the emergency. At the same time, the officers can benefit from critical alerts that help them avoid collisions.
Most Advanced Driver Assistance Systems are easy to install in different types of vehicles. Whether they are detective vehicles, detention vans, or patrol vehicles, these systems can be used to effectively prevent collisions. And, these systems can be removed and then installed in a different vehicle in case the officers need to replace their vehicle. Thus, the installation of ADAS can be a one-time investment for a fleet.
How Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Help Law Enforcement Officers
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems act like driving coaches that monitor the position of a vehicle relative to the other vehicles, obstacles, speed, and pedestrians across the travel lanes. They also monitor the closeness of other vehicles and alert the drivers on safe distance depending on the speed of vehicles. The volume of the vehicles can be locked to ensure that the officers can always hear the alerts.
The installation of ADAS in some law enforcement vehicles has led to rear-end-collisions’ reduction. ADAS technologies are also being added by some car manufacturers. Some of the technologies that are being fitted in these vehicles by their manufacturers include a package for forward collision alert. This employs a forward-looking camera and a radar to determine the closing speed from one vehicle to another along its path. It also includes a lane-keep assist that comes with a departure warning. This enhances gentle steering that assists drivers when it comes to avoiding crashes because of unintentional driving out of the lane while turning signals have not been activated.
The Bottom Line
Law enforcement officers are always multitasking when performing their duties. It’s, therefore, important that their vehicles are fitted with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems that are customized to suit the nature of their work. That way, their safety can be enhanced and collisions avoided.
