Who do I sue?

On August 31, 1976, the US Patent office issued patent #3978481 for an "Anti-collision vehicular radar system."

Just 30 years later, Volvo announced an automatic braking system that is planned to be available in the 2011 production models. Toyota and Mercedes are also working on systems to put on the brakes if the driver is about to hit something. In the case of Mercedes, this will be included in an option costing drivers on the order of $3500.

Why am I looking to sue someone? Because it should not take 30 years to start the work on making cars safer. Automobile manufacturers spent a ton of money to make collisions more survivable. Crumple zones and air bags have made cars much safer in spite of the use of more lightweight materials. (Watch this video of a 1959 Chevy Bel Air hitting a 2009 Chevy Malibu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xwYBBpHg1I.)

To be fair, there were a raft of automatic braking system patents issued in the 90s, after the expiration of #3978481. So perhaps using the figure of 30 years is a little disingenuous - after all, the technology of the 70s wasn't all that robust compared to the technology of the 90s. So perhaps I should only be lamenting the inaction of automobile manufacturers for 10 years.

Still. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980, and was pretty well known in the 90s. Auto makers have no excuse for not knowing that drunken drivers were a problem. And since there were patents on collision avoidance systems already in place, I would expect that the development would have started by at least 1990.

Does it really take 20 years to bring a technological idea to market? The History of Airbags shows that between the patent for a "sensor and safety system" in 1968 and the first commercially available vehicle equipped with airbags in 1973 was a span of only five years. I will concede that it took until 1998 for the federal government to mandate airbags in all vehicles, so there was a significant gap between "first available" and "universal."

Where are the insurance companies? Over 15,000 people die of alcohol-related accidents each year. In my own case (the only one that I have reliable information on), the various life, automobile, and liability insurance companies paid me a combined total of well over a quarter of a million dollars. Multiply that by 15,000 and you certainly have enough motivation for the insurance companies to get on the phone to the auto manufacturers and nag them to do something more than just add airbags.

$3,750,000,000 is closing in on 4 billion dollars every year that it costs us to let the driving drunks continue to kill people. Social efforts have cut the death toll to a little over half what it was in 1982, so progress is being made... but not fast enough. Social engineering cannot overcome basic human nature, but technology can take control away from impaired drivers.

Before there were cars, there were drunks. But a horse knew how to get home, even if the driver was "three sheets to the wind." And horses are smart enough to avoid a collision with another horse. Let's make our cars as smart as we can - and maybe, someday, they can take us home when we are sleepy, drunk, or otherwise unable to do it by ourselves.

I applaud Volvo, Toyota, and Mercedes for working on automatic collision avoidance systems. GM appears to have shelved it's work in the late 90s. Now that "we the people" own a controlling interest in GM, perhaps we can get them to renew their research and start building safe transportation systems rather than just flashy status symbols. (Of course, it would help if the buying public was smart enough to select "safe" over "pretty".)

So, let me know the best way to make cars safer. Should we sue the insurance industry? Sue the auto makers? Or just keep doing what we are doing - suing the drunk drivers to try to make a buck after they have killed a loved one?

Or maybe suing is not the answer. Maybe the auto manufacturers will start including collision avoidance systems if enough people just ask for them. Perhaps insurance companies will offer significant discounts for people who drive cars that are so equipped.

Either way, let's get the word out there, shall we?