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"C. E. White" <cewhite@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:HB99h.2246$sf5.175@newsread4.news.pas.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
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> "sharx35" <sharx35@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:KI89h.82$uj6.14@edtnps89...
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>> ABS IS an improvement. 99% of drivers, 99% of the time, cna NOT do better
>> on a non-ABS equipped vehicle. Only those with large egos think
>> otherwise.[/color]
>
> Certainly in a properly constructed test, an ABS equipped passenger car
> will stop as short or shorter than an otherwise identical car without ABS.
> I am not saying that ABS doesn't provide a slight advantage in carefully
> defined shows. If people want to buy ABS as a performance option, fine, go
> for it. However, it has not concussively been shown to provide a
> significant net safety advantage in the real world. NHTSA has spent
> million trying to figure out why this is the case. They have mostly
> focused on drivers not reacting properly to ABS. This may be the case, but
> it doesn't change the fact that there is very little overall difference in
> the death/injury rates for cars with and without ABS (some type of
> accident are decreased, other are increased). On dry pavement the braking
> advantage for ABS is slight, probably no more than 3% to 5% (and probably
> less). A recent Consumer Reports tire test found a larger variation than
> this between different brands of tires. On a wet road, the advantage might
> be slightly greater, maybe 5% to 10%. On ice some ABS system are not
> effective, but then nothing is. On loose snow or loose gravel, ABS is
> often worse (sometimes much worse) than not having ABS.
>
> Again, I am only talking about ABS for passenger cars. For vehicles that
> might have drastically different loading, like light trucks and SUVs, ABS
> is a useful safety feature, although rear only ABS would provide most of
> the benefit at a greatly reduced cost compared to four wheel ABS..
>
> I have no problem with ABS as an option, I just don't like it being forced
> on me.
>
> Regards,
>
> Ed White[/color]

I was with you until that last sentence, Ed. So many adolescents, young
males in particular, rebel against ANY kind of authority. They rail against
red lights, speed limits, seat belts. on and on and on. I am most certainly
NOT a liberal. I am not one of those who thinks that EVERYTHING should be
mandated by law. However, in my experience, if safety features are optional,
there would be great problems in convincing more than a few people to be
responsible enough to have them installed or to buy a vehicle with them
installed. My opinion, for example, is that if people don't use seatbelts,
for example, than any insurance that they have should be null and void, if
an accident claim is made. They, by NOT wearing the seat belts, contributed
to their injuries..regardless of who caused the accident.




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