Comment from Todd Slingerland
Todd SlingerlandOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter argues that automatic braking systems are currently inadequate for heavy vehicles because they fail to effectively handle stopped vehicles at highway speeds. They suggest that these systems may create a false sense of security for drivers and advocate against their implementation in light commercial vehicles (LCVs) until the technology can better distinguish between slowed and stopped traffic.
To those with ears at the NHTSA, listen! When looking into "automatic braking" on ANY vehicle, no matter what size, the automatic braking system works great when the vehicle in front of you is going a slower speed than what you are however, though it still attempts to slow your vehicle down, the system doesn't work worth it's weight in gold when the vehicle in front of you is "STOPPED" and your still at highway speeds. TOO many LCV drivers are getting lulled into thinking that the ABS will protect them. If you people would actually look outside, you would see the increased number of deaths, especially in road construction zones, are due to the fact "drivers" are not distracted, it's because they're not doing their job of being in control of the unit. Why, because the mentality of driver's today is "why should I pay attention, the safety equipment will save me!" Now, as for cars and pick-ups, those are your drives who could care less about what is happening in and around them, they are all out for themselves, with the attitude of gotta go, gotta go. Those are the ones who are causing the problems in road construction. They are in such a hurry to get in front of a LCV then slam on the breaks, because they get scared of being forced into one lane. So, does ABS work? Yes, for slow downs BUT, not for stopped ones. Until the manufacturers of the ABS can create units that are capable to see the difference between slowed and stopped, keep them outta LCV's.