The family car is getting a whole lot smarter these days and that’s good news for families carrying that precious cargo, while zipping about town picking up groceries and dropping children off at school.
Here’s three innovations that are making car trips safer.
- Lane centering. Mom may be using hands-free phone technology, but continuing instances of a driver drifting within a traffic lane is still a concern for highway safety advocates. Ford’s 2013 Fusion model will save lives and prevent injuries. The company’s sedan prevents sleepy drivers from drifting, but it will also work nicely for Moms distracted by little Timmy squalling in the back seat.
- Adaptive headlights. How many lives have been cut short by unavoidable collisions at night, when those high-beam headlights could not adapt quickly enough to curvy roads? These devices appear to reduce collisions by as much as 10 percent. The concept is simple, but brilliant. Connect steering technology to headlamp operation.
- Advanced camera systems. What is more tragic than a parent accidentally backing up over their own child when the rear-view mirror doesn’t reveal the presence of small children standing or playing behind the family car? Rearview cameras prevent horrific tragedies.
Even so, high-tech solutions cannot prevent other driving hazards such as dirty headlights. It’s tragic when a parent doesn’t see an impending danger until the distance required for a safe stop is no longer available to a driver heading around a dark corner with dirty headlights.
Washing your car frequently during winter months could save you or your children’s lives. Make time for a visit to Carsmetics and put a safety shine on those headlights!