Before, cars were designed to get you from one place to another. Never mind that you could drive on the freeway like a maniac; the point that car manufacturers wanted to make was that they were faster than their competitors. But over the years, as the number of car accidents ballooned and people were made aware of the dangers of the road, car manufacturers switched gears. They decided it’s about time to put road safety at the forefront of their vehicles’ features and specifications.
Thanks to technology, this is more than possible. It is now a miracle to find a car without safety devices and features. Even teenagers and their wayward ways on the road are safer now because of automatic braking, lane-maintenance alerts, and phone-safe features. And in case you still aren’t so great at parking your car, today’s automobiles have parking assistance that can guide you into the right parking space. If you have more cash to burn, some cars can even park themselves.
Automatic Emergency Braking
Cars have gone a long way. Manufacturers made it a point to use sophisticated technology, so no car ever has to suffer from busted brakes in the middle of a freeway. While you must visit a brake service mechanic from time to time to make sure that your brakes are working fine, cars nowadays have an automatic emergency braking (AEB) system. The purpose of this system is to avoid an accident by engaging the brakes when the driver fails to. Though it does not 100% ensure that no collision will happen, it reduces the seriousness of the accident.
Adaptive Cruise Control
The driver can set the maximum speed of the car while in cruise mode. Drivers use this when driving on long, empty roads. The point of the adaptive cruise control (ACC) is to use radar sensors, so the car can slow down when there’s a vehicle in front of you. It will use AEB when there’s an impending collision. The driver can also take back control of the car and push the brakes.
Phone-safe Features
People spend hours of their days glued to their smartphones, so much so that they even check messages and social media while driving. Thankfully, cars now have a technology that can detect if you’re using your phone while driving. Some cars can silence your phone automatically the moment you start the car. Only emergency calls will get through the silent mode. Navigational apps will also not work unless you turn it into passenger mode.
Lane-keep Assist
This is an important safety feature for people who usually drive at night. Maybe it’s because you are tired or you have a little buzz from drinking a bottle of beer with friends, but the lane-keep assist will help you drive safely at night. It will alert the driver when the car begins to drift in their lanes. That will give the driver enough time to pull the car back to the right lane. But remember, you shouldn’t be driving when you’re tired, distracted, and zoned out.
Rear-vision Cameras
The great thing about rear-vision cameras is that car owners can have them installed anywhere. Though they come with new cars, you can still have them in older models. This will help drivers back up safely. Do you know that backing up from parking spaces and driveways can also lead to accidents? Dogs and kids who are too small to be seen in rear-view mirrors can run suddenly behind a car that’s backing up. Rear-vision cameras solve this problem.
Tire Pressure Monitoring System
New drivers have to learn to check the tire pressure before driving. This is one of the routines drivers must do before starting the car. You wouldn’t want to get stuck in the middle of the freeway with a busted tire, would you? The good thing is that cars now have a tire pressure monitoring system, which keeps track of the air pressure in all four tires. The system notifies the drivers through a warning light on the dashboard.
Facial Recognition
This is a fairly new software that not all modern cars have. The system will detect a change in the driver’s facial expression and will act as programmed. The tech will keep track of the driver’s level of alertness. If it feels that the driver isn’t as alert as they are supposed to be, it will alarm the driver through lights and sounds from the dashboard. Some systems even make the steering wheel and driver’s seat vibrate.
These technologies will protect new and old drivers alike. They keep the road safer these days so that even new drivers will be confident of their decisions. As technology gets more advanced in the future, expect a slew of safety tools and devices that will reduce and hopefully eliminate car accidents.
