Sad but too often true that, Eugene. All the statistics I have read said that on their own the various safety systems should prevent X number of accidents and Y number of fatalities. But they only see X/2 reduction in accidents and Y/2 reduction in deaths because people who think the cars will better avoid accidents and save their lives tend to drive carelessly.

Its like the old joke that says if you want to have people drive carefully you would take out the seat belts and rig a foot long iron spike pointed at the heart of the driver in the middle of the steering wheel. Nobody would speed or drive unsafely. In fact few people would drive and those that did wouldn't go over five miles an hour.

People who think, even if it subconscious, that the ABS system will allow them to get away with tailgating and air bags will save their lives tend to take more risks. It doesn't entirely cancel out the benefits of ABS and airbags and the rest of the safety systems but we never see the full benefit either.

My biggest problem with ABS systems is that for them to work their best you need to stomp on the brakes and maintain pressure. Which goes against twenty-five years of training and experience. I reflexively back off the pressure and pump the brakes and it takes a conscious effort to, what used to be called, drive like an idiot.

I'm pretty proud that last time I had to stop fast, after a car stupidly pulled out in front of me, I hit them hard and maintained pressure. I'm also glad that he ABS system worked. I'm still not sure if I could have stopped in time if I had pumped the brakes. But I'm sure that driving like an idiot, braking hard and holding it, if the ABS hadn't worked there would have been a crash. The end was happy because the primitive ABS system on my truck, rear wheels only and one channel, worked. But it still feels weird to be depending on a mechanical system to do what I'm used too be doing on my own.