Have you seen the commercial where a man is driving and thinking aloud and almost drifts into another lane but he has lane control technology like this:

This could soon become the norm in cars. More cars and trucks are being equipped with cameras, radar, automatic braking and other safety technology that help avoid accidents, but drivers may not see their insurance bills go down anytime soon, experts in the auto and insurance industries said Thursday.

Just last week there was an auto safety conference in Connecticut where leading professionals said the effects of new safety technologies on auto insurance remain to be seen.

While back up cams, brake assistance, lane control systems and other technology help drivers to avoid crashes when cars and trucks that have these systems do get into crashes they are more expensive to fix. There are other problems as well.

When new technology come out there are always “bugs”, that is just the way the industry works and early adopters are the guinea pigs. There have been reports that some safety systems also don’t work well in bad weather and at night, and some drivers are turning off the systems because of annoying alarms and false alerts.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates that one in three fatal crashes and one in five accidents with injuries could be prevented if all passenger vehicles were equipped with forward collision warning, lane departure warning, blind spot detection and other safety systems.

The institute also found that some models of Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and other manufacturers with crash avoidance technology had 14 to 16 percent fewer accident insurance claims, compared with the same models without the technology.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Air bags, stability control and other safety systems have made driving safer over the past decade. Passenger car and truck accident fatalities nationwide dropped from about 32,300 in 2003 to about 21,700 in 2012 – a decrease of about 33 percent.

Insurance industry experts say that despite safety technology growing more and more sophisticated, they don’t believe auto insurance will become obsolete. The human element will always be present.

These advances in technology won’t save you money on your insurance but taking our defensive driving class will! Stay tuned and as always DRIVE SAFE!