If you are looking for an inexpensive summer hobby, you could do worse than to stream all of the movies featuring your favorite actor, one per evening, in order of release date. You may find that some of the movies are not as entertaining as you remember them being. In some cases, your favorite actor's minor role is the film's only redeeming characteristic. Still, at the very least, it will be entertaining to watch the progression of cell phone technology. The monstrous piece of plastic that Tom Cruise bellows into throughout the film Jerry Maguire may just be a cordless phone that communicates through a landline, but the cell phones of the 1990s were of similar size and used by people whose self-importance rivaled that of Tom Cruise's character in the movie. 

In today's movies, characters with no particular expertise in STEM fields can solve forensic investigations, become reunited with long-lost relatives, and unlock the secrets of the universe using only a pocket-sized smartphone. The results are not as cinematic, but a similar evolution has taken place in driver-assist technology in passenger cars over the same period. Unless your car is ancient, it probably has an automatic braking system (ABS). The federal government has just issued new regulations requiring a higher standard for ABS technology for vehicles beginning in the 2029 model year. A Spokane auto accident lawyer can help you if you have been injured in a car accident that better automatic brakes could have prevented.

Can Your Car's Automatic Braking System Save You From Yourself?

Automatic braking technology in today's cars is pretty good, but it is not perfect. Your car can let you know if you risk hitting another car as you try to fit into a tight parking spot. It can brake suddenly if a car passes behind you at high speed as you try to back out of your parking space. It can even brake to stop you from rear-ending the car in front of you in stop-and-go traffic.

Where current ABS technology falls short is in the conditions that tend to cause the most destructive accidents. For example, automatic brakes work best when you are going less than 45 miles per hour, so they work best in heavy traffic and in parking lots. Rain and snow also make it hard for the car's sensors to alert the brakes to an obstacle. Under the new regulations, automatic brakes will need to be effective at all speeds up to 62 miles per hour, meaning that they will be equipped to handle all normal speeds of city traffic. They will also need to work better in rainy and snowy conditions.

Contact West Law Office About Car Accident Cases

A personal injury lawyer can help you if you got injured in a car accident where the at-fault driver did not apply the brakes in time. Contact West Law Office in Spokane, Washington, to find out more about your legal options.