Technology Proposed by Google Could Save Pedestrians’ Lives

A new technology may signal a transition by auto manufacturers into a focus on protecting pedestrians. Although the technology comes from Google as part of their quest to fill the world with self-driving cars, the patent is for a substance that acts like human flypaper — and when applied to a car’s exterior may save lives.

Many pedestrian injuries occur as a result of the victim being thrown into the air, into another vehicle, or onto the ground. These impacts lead to head injuries, broken bones and other types of trauma as well as fatalities. Google’s invention seeks to minimize the risk of these secondary impact injuries by making the front of their cars sticky.

By coating vehicles with a strong adhesive, pedestrians would stick to the car that hit them rather than bouncing off into further danger. Of course, no one wants to drive a sticky, dirty car, so over this layer of adhesive substance would be a thin shell designed to survive normal driving conditions and shatter immediately in the event of a wreck.

While Google’s concept may be bizarre and a long way from ever making it onto the road, it does show a positive shift by auto engineers toward making the road safer for everyone, not just those inside vehicles.

These concerns are especially necessary for Google to address because lawmakers and the public are still wary of the possibility of self-driving vehicles injuring humans. While such vehicles are already safer than human drivers in most cases, manufacturers of automated vehicles will likely face much stricter scrutiny than manufacturers of traditional cars. The innovations that they develop to overcome this scrutiny, however, will likely spread to more vehicles over time.

Pedestrians on Long Island are hit by inattentive or negligent drivers nearly every day. If you or a loved one has been hurt in an auto accident, contact the compassionate and knowledgeable pedestrian injury attorneys at Jakubowski, Robertson, Maffei, Goldsmith & Tartaglia. We help clients throughout New York City’s five boroughs understand their legal options and alternatives.