We are now living in a time where technological advances are widespread through almost every aspect of life. Take for instance the realm of motoring. Right now, most vehicles are equipped with certain innovative features that provide drivers and passengers a safer driving and traveling experience. Usually, they are first introduced whenever high-end car manufacturers release new models of their vehicles. Eventually, these innovations would later on reach the consciousness of ordinary motorists, owing to the high levels of demand for such advancements. Indeed, mainstream car manufacturers have included them as standard features in the vehicles they release to the market.
Basically, technological advancements in car safety—from systems to single-entity features—made their way into market as a response to the seemingly endless string of vehicle accidents that occur almost every day. People may be taking them for granted, but systems like IVMS system were installed in today’s vehicles for numerous reasons, all pointing to crash avoidance and driver and passenger protection.
We have come a long way since car manufacturers made the three-point safety seat belt, airbags, and head restraints standard features in vehicles. But in terms of purpose, these were designed to protect drivers and passengers. Indeed, today’s car safety technology has shifted towards preventing crashes from happening.
Meanwhile, below are some of the systems and other features that are available in today’s vehicles, all of which help avoid instances of road collisions:
1. Electronic Stability Control (ESC). This technology, which is installed in most vehicles, helps drivers sustain control of their vehicles when they attempt certain steering maneuvers that could very well end up in them losing control of their vehicle. This is helpful in situations such as traveling down a road curve, where many drivers find doing so tricky. Here, the ESC system prevents drivers from either spinning out or plowing out of the road.
2. Lane departure warning system. This helps drivers keep themselves alert when they happen to steer off course, especially if they get sleepy behind the wheel. What this does is that it alerts drivers when it recognizes that the vehicles are drifting out of the lane. Usually, such a system comes with a camera that tracks the position of the vehicles in relation to the road’ lane markings. The alert usually comes in the form of vibration or audible warnings.
3. Forward collision warning. This system has sensors that detect the situation of the traffic up ahead. Like the lane departure warning system, it alerts the driver in the form of vibration or audible warnings to allow him or her to react on the situation and stop the car manually. Certain systems are usually equipped with automatic braking features that would help stop the vehicle right away when it senses that the front-end is too close to the other vehicle ahead and the driver fails to react.
4. In Vehicle Monitoring System. This system works by installing an electronic device to a vehicle. The main objective of IVMS system is to track the vehicle installed with the electronic device. The system’s computer software harvests the data and transfers them to its operational base. This technology is commonly used by freight and fleet companies.
Such is today’s technology in the realm of motoring. Indeed, vehicles now have the features to provide drivers and passengers that needed protection from crashes. It is worth mentioning, however, that it is important for drivers to make the concerted effort to drive defensively, not aggressively. In other words, they should not be complacent with what they have in their vehicles, as being aggressive behind the wheel could lessen the effectiveness of some of the mentioned safety features.