6 of the Best Driving Gadgets that You Need Today

These days, cars come with all kinds of safety features. With some, you get back up cameras, lane departure alerts, blind spot object detection systems, forward collision automatic braking, and many more. Accidents are easier to avoid than ever.

However, you might have an older vehicle, and you can’t afford to get a new one just now. You might still want some of the safe driving features that are out there, but now isn’t the right time to drop some serious cash on a new, top-of-the-line vehicle.

You can get around that problem by purchasing some of the best driving gadgets that companies sell. You can find some of these on Amazon or in brick-and-mortar stores. Let’s go over some of the top-selling ones right now.

Backup Camera Dashcams

If you get some of the driving safety gadgets that are out now, you can avoid reckless driving fees and other annoying costs. For example, Manhattan reckless driving gets you a $300 fine for a first offense, and nobody wants that.

Many new vehicles come with backup dashcams. Just because you have an older car, though, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have one.

Several companies sell backup camera dashcams that you can install yourself. They are not too complex, so you don’t need to be super tech-savvy to set yours up.

If you get one, you can back up safely if you have an active neighborhood with cyclists and kids running around. You won’t back over your neighbor’s dog by accident. These cameras can also be real lifesavers if you’re trying to back out of a parking space in a crowded parking lot.

A GPS Tracker

You might also put a GPS tracker in your vehicle. This way, if someone ever steals it, you have a way to track it, and the police should find the culprit with no issues.

Also, if you have teen drivers, and you’re worried about where they’re going and who they’re spending time with, the GPS tracker can inform you of that as well. Your kids will know not to do anything out of line when you allow them to borrow the car on a Saturday night.

You can put the GPS tracker somewhere visible, or you can hide it. If you’re getting it because you want to track the vehicle if a carjacker takes it, concealing it will be your best move.

A Portable Car Battery Booster

If your car dies when you’re out on a lonely road somewhere at night, you can be in real trouble. Maybe you can use your smartphone to call for help, but perhaps you don’t have it with you, or the battery is dead.

You might need to walk several miles to find help, or you could try waiting to see if someone shows up eventually who can jump-start your car’s engine for you. You don’t want to have to rely on that, though.

Instead, you can buy a portable battery car booster and keep it with you in the trunk or the backseat. There are several different contraptions that companies sell that can jump-start your car’s engine, and they can also charge your USB devices like smartphones or tablets.

Once you have one in the car with you, you’ll feel a lot safer when you go on trips. Nothing is worse than the engine dying on you when you’re in unfamiliar territory, and this is the way you can prevent getting stuck that way.

A Heads-Up Display Speedometer

Your vehicle comes with a speedometer, but maybe you don’t pay that much attention to it. It’s down there on the dashboard, but you’re trying to keep your eyes on the road to watch for traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians.

You can get yourself a larger, easy-to-read speedometer that you can put somewhere right where you’ll see it without having to keep looking down. There are ones you can get that not only tell you how fast you’re going but they also indicate the vehicle’s travel direction. You can get ones that tell you how long you’ve been driving as well.

These are particularly useful for drivers who keep getting speeding tickets. You don’t want to have to keep paying for those, and if you can see how fast you’re going at all times, that should solve the problem.

An Emergency Escape Tool

You want to be as safe as possible in your car, but sometimes, the unexpected happens. That’s when you’ll be glad that you have an emergency escape tool in there with you.

These devices usually have a seatbelt cutter if you can no longer disentangle yourself and you need to cut your way out. They also come with double-tipped emergency car window hammers if you need to smash a window and crawl out that way. High-grade carbon steel hammers are best.

You might not feel like you’ll ever need something like that, but you never know when you’ll be in a serious accident. If you get one of these, you should keep it close at hand. You might have it in the glove compartment or under the driver’s seat.

A Tire Pressure Monitoring System

A tire pressure monitoring device is one last gadget you may want to consider. Some newer cars can tell you each tire’s pressure, but older vehicles cannot.

You can get one of these devices, and it will tell you each tire’s exact pressure at any time. You need to know your tire PSI because if it drops too low, it makes getting a flat more likely. If that happens, and you don’t have a spare with you, or you don’t know how to change a tire, that can be a difficult situation for you.

With all of these devices in place, you should feel much safer when you go out for a drive. Whether you are traveling across the country or going a few blocks to the store, you can breathe easier with these gadgets available.