Wake-up call: New tech alerts drivers on bad behaviour

When it comes to price, cars are a little like international airfares – they’ve changed little over the past 10 years or so.

While everything else in the world has been steadily going up in cost, the price of motor vehicles has remained pretty much the same.

But we’re also getting more bang for the same buck.

Entry-level cars costing less than $20,000 are now loaded up with heaps of safety features that were once only seen on more luxurious European models.

Warning sensors, front and back, that anticipate a collision will automatically apply the brakes if the driver is too slow. The Mazda 2 boasts this feature, along with a few more.

Subaru has just launched a unique device that warns the driver if they are getting too weary or if their eyes deviate off the road for more than three seconds.

An LED camera is built in to the dashboard that monitors the head movement of the driver, and if he or she is tempted to, say, look at a mobile phone or stare too long out a window, a beeping sound will go off and warning messages will flash on the dashboard.

Subaru has launched the feature in their family-car-priced Forester range (around the mid $30,000 range) but anticipate their entire fleet will have the concept within 12 months.

What’s more, the price of the car remains the same as it was last year.

It wasn’t that long ago cars with a single airbag were considered unique and safe.

Today, some cars have a dozen airbags along with a list of other safety features.

There’s no doubt our cars are becoming safer to travel in, and given all the distractions around us these days like standstill traffic and mobile phones, every extra safety feature is a bonus.

Particularly when it’s costing no more.