I was driving down a winding, country road recently in my rental car as I headed to the next ministry event. There were no white lines on the pavement, only a double yellow line to separate oncoming traffic around the curves and a broken yellow line on the straight-aways, indicating I could pass if I needed to. To help make sure I didn’t get too far onto the gravel shoulder of the road, I hugged the yellow line tighter than I probably should have. Suddenly, I realized I was now too far left by the yellow line! How did I know? Good question! The lane assist driving aid of the rental car went off with a beeping alarm and my steering wheel started vibrating simultaneously warning me to stay in my lane. All this was happening as the car suddenly started automatically veering away from the double yellow line back to the center of the narrow lane.
The alarm worked! I was alarmed. My older, 13-year-old car doesn’t have all these new bells, whistles, beeps, and buzzers! The technology in my car is a little out-of-date. I learned that with the lane assist safety feature, cameras are strategically placed on the car to read the white and yellow lines on the road and assist in alerting drivers when the car is about to cross a lane boundary. Before the vehicle crosses the line, the system, when engaged, will take over the wheel to swiftly but safely move you back to the center of your lane.
Admittedly, I made the alarms go off more than once or twice while driving these back roads. You would think I would have started singing, the Carrie Underwood song, “Jesus Take the Wheel!”
