Baltimore Car Accident Lawyers: Self-Driving Cars and Road Rage 

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Tailgating, cutting someone off, and other irritating driving habits often lead to road rage. Drivers can quickly become enraged when another driver gets in their way. With the rise of self-driving cars, one might assume that this would eliminate road rage. However, according to a study conducted by Goodyear and the London School of Economics, this may not be the case.

Close to 12,000 individuals from 11 countries participated in the study. They were asked to rate how they would feel about the prospect of sharing the road with self-driving cars. The drivers who were labeled cooperative were generally less comfortable with the prospect of self-driving cars, compared to uncooperative drivers. One uncooperative participant said that it would be easy to take advantage of self-driving cars since they actually stop when they are supposed to, which would make it easy to swerve around them.

The reality is that as long as there are people driving their cars, even self-driving cars are at risk of a car accident. For example, if an angry driver cuts off a self-driving car, it may not be able to detect being cut off. Currently, self-driving cars are not programmed to detect a rogue driver approaching, although the Google self-driving car prototype purports to give an aggressive driver the right of way.

Overall, study participants agreed that self-driving cars could be a safe alternative. In fact, 43 percent felt that autonomous cars would be safer since the majority of wrecks are caused by human error, and 37 percent agreed that machines have the potential to be better drivers than humans since they do have emotions. Either way, humans will most likely have to share the road with these self-driving vehicles soon. According to the study, 41 percent of the participants were very uncomfortable with this.

Maryland Car Accident Lawyers at LeViness, Tolzman & Hamilton Represent Victims of Road Rage

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a car accident involving a self-driving car or an aggressive driver, you are urged to contact the Maryland car accident lawyers at LeViness, Tolzman & Hamilton as soon as possible. Our dedicated, compassionate team will thoroughly investigate the details of your case and seek the maximum financial compensation to which you are entitled. To schedule a free consultation, call us today at 800-547-4LAW (4529) or contact us online.

Our offices are located in Baltimore, Columbia, Glen Burnie, and Towson, allowing us to represent victims of car accidents in Maryland, including those in Anne Arundel County, Carroll County, Harford County, Howard County, Montgomery County, Maryland’s Western Counties, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore, as well as the communities of Catonsville, Essex, Halethorpe, Middle River, Rosedale, Gwynn Oak, Brooklandville, Dundalk, Pikesville, Parkville, Nottingham, Windsor Mill, Lutherville, Timonium, Sparrows Point, Ridgewood, and Elkridge.