Louisiana traffic safety: Safer cars do make a difference.

If you are worried about your teenager behind the wheel, or your spouse's daily commute to the school or to work, remember that a great deal can be done to avoid auto accidents in Louisiana, and to limit the damage if there is a crash. For instance, you can make sure to buy a safer car.

Safety should be one of the top criteria when you buy a car. Fine, but what does car safety mean? In a nutshell, these are the various elements you should look at:

1. Weight of the vehicle: If a heavier vehicle collides with a lighter one, the lighter will suffer substantially more damage. Even if a large or mid-sized sedan does not have the best mileage, the yearly cost difference could be small, especially if the car isn't driven much.
2. Passive safety features: Apart from the car's weight and size, there are a number of features that are critical to your safety in a crash. You will need to check the proper functioning and ease of use of safety belts in the front and back. Airbags save thousands of lives every year and all experts agree on the even greater safety provided by side-impact airbags; give them a top priority in your list of criteria. Headrests are essential to prevent whiplash, but they need to be close to the back of your head and at the appropriate height: directly behind the centerline of your head.
3. Structural integrity: The way the car's metal structure reacts to front, rear and side impacts or rollovers determines your fate in high-impact collisions. All cars are rated for crashworthiness and results can be found online.
4. Active safety features: Almost all these features are crucial in your ability to avoid a crash or reduce the impact of one. The most basic ones are the vehicle's tires, brakes, handling, acceleration and visibility. Others are electronic features like the anti-lock brake system (ABS) and the electronic stability control (ESC) system, which prevent the car from spinning out or plowing into something. Take some time to understand the functioning and importance of these devices.

New safety systems are brought on the market every year, like Collision Warning and Brake Support or Emergency Brake Assist devices, first installed on high-end vehicles, then gradually becoming standard on all new passenger cars. It may come as a surprise that even the car's color has a great influence on the likelihood of a crash; check out some statistics on this phenomenon before choosing a car color.

If you have been hurt in a serious car accident in Louisiana, contact the car accident attorneys of the Young Firm in New Orleans immediately for a FREE consultation on your case at (504) 680-4100 (local) or (866) 660-7220 (toll free), or by sending us an e-mail.