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The safety field has taken many giant leaps forward in recent years, and modern cars feature a wide range of potential safety options.
One area you should never cut corners when shopping for a new or used car is in its safety features. There’s nothing more important when you get behind the wheel of the car than knowing that you and the people you care about are as safe as possible for the duration of the drive. The safety field has taken many giant leaps forward in recent years, and modern cars feature a wide range of potential safety options. If you’re in the market for a car and don’t know what to look for, these safety perks can mean the difference between a safe trip and an accident.
When driving on a highway the most important thing you can do to stay safe is keep your car’s speed under control. Unfortunately, pace control is also one of the easiest mistakes to make as just a slight distraction can lead to riding up too close on the car in front of you and having insufficient space to brake if they make a quick stop. Two modern technologies make it easier than ever to stay at a safe distance and react quickly when a sudden stop occurs.
With traditional cruise control, you can set your desired speed and your car will maintain it, however, it loses functionality when other cars are nearby. If the car in front of you is not keeping speed you’ll need to brake to avoid an accident. With adaptive cruise control, sensors monitor the location of other cars around you and help to maintain a safe distance between you and the car in front of you. With automatic emergency braking, you’re covered in the event of a sudden stop, too, as your car detects the car ahead’s rapid deceleration and breaks accordingly to help prevent an accident.
Although most car designers do their best to minimize blind spots in their vehicles, the simple fact is there is no way to manufacture a car with perfect lines of sight in every direction. One of the best innovations for safe driving has been the creation of cameras and sensors which allow you to detect danger in your blind spots. Rear view cameras which kick in whenever you put the car in reverse are common now, but they’re not the only way the technology is being used. Warning systems like blind spot monitors check the places you can’t see and alert you if a car or other object is there to help you avoid an accident.
Drifting out of your lane even a little while driving on the highway you could bump into a car in a neighboring lane. With lane monitoring technologies like lane departure warnings to let you know if you are closing in on a neighboring lane, and lane keep assist to stop your car’s drift when the warning isn’t enough, you make it easy to stay safe in your own lane as you head off down the highway.
