For some people, safety is the top concern when choosing a car. For most, safety is one concern among many. Cost, convenience, even style might all rank ahead of the safety features of a vehicle, depending on your preferences. Wherever safety falls on your list of priorities, you should, at least, understand the ways your car can help make your driving experience safer. Toward that end, the National Safety Council recently launched a new web site designed to help drivers understand important features of their vehicles. At mycardoeswhat.org, drivers can learn about passive and active safety technology present in their vehicles.
A national survey of U.S. drivers showed that 65 percent do not know what adaptive cruise control is. For the record, adaptive cruise control is just like regular cruise control, with the added ability to slow down or speed up to keep pace with the cars ahead of you. It uses a radar sensor to watch the traffic ahead and adapts to maintain a certain gap between you and car ahead of you. Adaptive cruise control has been around for several years now, but the majority of car owners are not aware of its capabilities.
The NSC site can help drivers learn about features such as anti-lock brakes, tire pressure monitoring devices, active steering, back-up cameras, forward collision warning systems and more. If you want to get to know your car better, or want to understand what features to look for in your next car, this site is one place to begin.
Many forms of safety technology do their work without any work on the part of the driver. Some tech, like back-up cameras are at least partially dependent on the driver’s willingness and ability to use it properly. Hopefully, this site and those like it will help more drivers appreciate the importance of safety technology in making the roads a safer place for everyone.
Source: Manufacturing Business Technology, “Survey Shows Big Gaps in Knowledge About Auto Safety Tech,” by Dee-Ann Durbin, 8 September 2015
