Fans of new applications for modern technology have been celebrating mobile hardware for quite some time now. Finally, a high-powered personal computing device that could fit almost any budget! Quality smartphones can now be had for very little money up front, as long as you sign up for a company’s data contract. And these incredible little devices are just the beginning, the gateway to the true power of the app. Open up either the Android or the iOS app store and you’ll find literally hundreds of thousands of applications, ready for use. Many of them are free as well, which means all they require is some hard drive space and a few hours of experimentation. Today’s apps can perform almost any function you would require in a personal computer, but now in a package that fits within your pocket. That means the potential applications expand out of the home or office, joining you wherever you may be. Enter the iOnRoad app, which helps you avoid some nasty snares.

The app basically turns any vehicle you drive into a smart car. This is the sort of thing that would cost thousands of dollars extra as an add-on to a luxury vehicle, but now can be applied to your parents’ station wagon just as easily as that brand new Prius. Basically, iOnRoad taps into the camera in your smartphone and a series of sensors embedded in your device, in order to recognize vehicles in front of yours. It also ties into the phone’s mapping software, so it knows when you will come up against obstacles based on traffic reports coming down from satellite systems. The iOnRoad app can note your vehicle’s speed as well as impending objects in front of you, and will issue a warning to help you stop in time to avoid an accident.

The warnings it posts are a mix of audio and visual signals, so you should still get the warning even with the radio on. It’s not just for catastrophic accidents, either. The app will tell you if you’re getting too close to the vehicle in front of you, therefore helping you avoid fender benders. It will also tell you if you’re wandering out of your lane, or somehow in a situation that could lead to an accident. It’s a truly impressive set of functions for a smartphone app, and would be a useful addition to any driver’s toolkit.

The engineers behind iOnRoad have also included a nifty little add-on. Embedded is a survey that polls drivers on their favorite and least favorite places to drive. The eventual goal is to give users nationwide a snapshot of the cities they will most likely experience an accident within, therefore opening their eyes to be more cautious. Currently only about one hundred drivers have filled out the survey, so the results need to be taken with a grain of salt. And there’s no telling which vehicles were up to code, which ones had aftermarket Timbren bushings installed, or any number of other variables that could inform a driver’s opinion that have nothing at all to do with the cities themselves. But as of now, the top five on the list are all within the tri-state area, including three boroughs of New York City and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Rounding out the top ten are Irvine and Los Angeles, California, Houston, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.