If you want to keep yourself and your car safe this winter, you may need to take a few extra precautions. While your local car accessory expert can tell you more about additions that will make your car safe, it's a good bet that any one of these three upgrades will help protect you from both accidents and potential theft.

Headlights That Cut Through Any Weather

If you want to be as safe as possible on the road, you'll need to ensure that you can always see any potential hazards before it's too late. Adding more effective lighting is an excellent way to make sure you're as prepared as possible, no matter what time it is or what weather you're facing.

HID Lights: High-intensity discharge lights may be familiar to you based on their signature almost-blue whiteness. This whiteness allows them to mimic sunlight more closely than traditional headlights, which gives you a much brighter and clearer image of the road in front of you. If your headlights aren't illuminating far enough ahead of your car, it may be time to consider upgrading to HID lights. However, you'll want to have them professionally installed, since improperly installed lights can cause glare and blind oncoming drivers.

Fog Lights: The only downside to HID lighting is that the color of the light makes it dissipate faster when the air is full of water droplets, which makes driving in wet weather or fog more hazardous. Fortunately, supplementary fog lights can fix this issue. Contrary to what their name suggests, fog lights are good for all kinds of wet weather conditions, including snow and rain, which means they're an ideal safety solution if you live in an area with frequent bad weather.

Remote Starters For Safe Winter Warming

When winter weather hits, most people make a habit out of prewarming their cars by turning them on and leaving them running with the keys in the ignition. While this is often necessary to dislodge snow and ice that is stuck to the windshield, it can present a theft risk if you aren't willing to sit in your car the whole time it warms up. Fortunately, you don't have to start worrying about your car being stolen any time soon if you invest in a remote car starter.

Remote starters allow you to use a fob to start your engine without even unlocking the doors, meaning you can let your car heat up while you wait in the comfort of your home. More complex remote starters also offer a variety of bonus functions, like a temperature readout from inside the car or anti-hijacking settings that will disable your car in the event of foul play. Best of all, the cheapest remote starter can cost as little as $40.

Emergency Calling Service To Get Help Fast

If you live or drive frequently in a remote location, or if you expect to see some hazardous winter weather, an onboard emergency calling service may be a literal life saver. In the event of an accident, these services connect you instantly to an operator who can call 911, help you make other calls, locate you, and even give you directions back to a familiar area if you happen to get lost. Plus, you can get roadside assistance for non-emergencies, such as gas delivery or help with flat tires.

These services are also loaded with bonus functions, like regularly running car diagnostics that inform you about any repairs your car might need, or using GPS to track down your car in the event of theft. Some services even allow you to prepay for minutes that can be used at any time to call hands-free from your car.

If your car is lacking these helpful safety accessories, it might be time for a trip to your local car expert. With professional instruction and installation, these upgrades can give you some serious peace of mind. You have enough to worry about this winter -- why keep worrying about your car?

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