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Subaru Eyesight helps traffic flow and prevents accidents

Subaru's Eyesight technology could help traffic flow better.

The extra pair of eyes in the new Subaru Liberty and Outback were designed primarily to prevent rear-end crashes in stop-start traffic, by constantly scanning the road ahead.

But if all cars had these tiny cameras behind the windscreen they could actually improve traffic flow because, as I discovered by accident (not literally, touch wood), they have another handy use.

The system warns you if the car in front has driven off and you haven’t – because you’re day-dreaming, rummaging for something, or doing your make-up (not guilty).

The screen in the instrument panel flashes and there’s a beep, usually before the car behind you blasts the horn.

I know this because having discovered it by chance, I tried it out a few more times to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.

Imagine how much better the traffic would flow if more cars had a system like this

And...it works (apologies to those behind a dark blue Subaru Outback in peak hour last Tuesday night, in my defence we were only inching forward one car length at a time and, well, because research).

The Subaru Eyesight system (their words, not ours) actually works better than any other lane keeping or forward collision warning system I’ve tested lately, including on German luxury cars. It’s also incredibly accurate at night, which can be a struggle for some systems.

It got me thinking: car giant Toyota owns about 20 per cent of Subaru. I wonder if Toyota might dip into the basket and borrow this genius piece of Subaru-developed technology.

Here’s hoping they do. Given that Toyota is the world’s biggest automotive brand, imagine how much better the traffic would flow if more cars had a system like this?