A drive assisting apparatus (1) for assisting a forward vehicle following travel is provided with: an inter-vehicular information acquisition unit (10) that acquires an inter-vehicular distance between a driver's vehicle and a forward vehicle; a deceleration unit (12) that performs a deceleration control on the basis of the inter-vehicular distance; and a steering information acquisition unit (14) that detects a steering operation by the driver. Upon detection of the steering operation, the deceleration unit (12) terminates the deceleration control. Thus, the deceleration control can be performed according to the driver's will by properly ascertaining the driver's intention.