What causes the most accidents on the road? Bad weather? Drunk drivers? Faulty cars? Nope, nope, and nope. Instead the answer is people—people not paying attention, falling asleep, chatting on their cell phones, and just being average, not-too smart people. Well, we all know people are hard to change, so what’s the answer to making our roads safer? Enter the really smart car…

How smart are these cars? Smarter than a lot of human drivers it seems. Safety-smart cars aren’t on the road yet, but they may soon be. And when they are, they are going to be ultra cool! Safety-smart cars are still in the experimental stage, but one day soon, they will be able tell a driver to stop at an intersection and even “talk” to other cars on the road by way of wireless technology. That way they can tell a driver if a car is approaching or if there is an accident ahead. Now that’s smart.

The cars will even be able to pick up signals from road signs, and possibly even the road itself. This is especially important because 70% of all fatal (causing death) traffic accidents take place at intersections. This is because drivers have to pay attention to a lot of things at intersections: people crossing the street, traffic lights, and the behaviours of other drivers who may not be paying attention very well! It’s not a surprise that intersections are dangerous places to hang out, but safety-smart car technology may change all that in the future.

Could we be on our way to a crash-free future? Hmmm. Maybe cars already know the answer to this question.