The history of the automobile is a timeline of trial an error. Upon looking back at some of the world’s first models, the lack of safety concern like the no headrests and lack of body framing to protect drivers seems like an overlooked basic of common sense.

In 100 years from now, will our ancestors look back on the present with the same bafflement that we do to ours?

Self driving vehicles may be transportations evolutionary step that will make the way we’re driving cars today seem like something prehistoric to futuristic drivers.

In a Daily Mail article, it’s reported that for every 10,000 human errors, a computer makes one, according to data collected by  the Institution of Engineering and Technology in Stevenage, UK. The human error to computer error ratio being the main argument for the belief that driverless cars will improve traffic safety dramatically.

Speed limits, traffic signal timing and every detail we encounter on the road is strategically placed after engineers, scientists and other professionals gather data and conclude how the roads and traffic signals must exist to keep traffic flowing. Of course, these systems are imperfect, as Pamela Crenshaw, a transportation specialist for the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Travel Management explains on the FHWA website, “basic signal timing is a problem in many localities.” Along with imperfections, traffic algorithms are all created with the unknown variable of human error. A variable that speeds, slams on the breaks, weaves through traffic and ultimately creates accidents and traffic jams.

Both of which, are getting increasingly worse. For example, the state of Louisiana itself has the 2nd highest amount of traffic fatalities per 100 million vehicles traveled. According to a report published in January 2015 that compares crash data from 2012 and 2013, the number of accidents per year has increased by 72,000.

According to tests conducted that analyze the safety of Google’s driverless car, driverless cars will be able to create maps and track data, taking the need for an eyewitness out of the equation in the event of an accident.

Bob Lutz, former General Motors  vice chairman explained to CNBC some of the reasons driverless cars are safer.

“Young, autonomous cars don’t want to race other autonomous cars, and they don’t go to sleep,” said Lutz.

Lutz also told Street Signs that “The autonomous car doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, doesn’t text while driving, doesn’t get road rage.”

While driverless cars are expected to be integrated into roadways soon, there are ways human drivers can improve road safety now. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists the following actions all drivers can take now:

• Use seatbelts.
• Stop the vehicle before using a cell phone.
• Avoid distracting activities such as eating, drinking, and adjusting radio and other controls while driving.
• Avoid driving when over-tired.
• Use detailed maps to determine your route before you leave, or use a GPS.
• Have the vehicle checked and serviced regularly.
• Keep the gas tank at least a quarter full.
• Carry an emergency kit containing a flashlight, extra batteries, flares, a blanket, and bottled water.

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