[effluvium]

Can attest to that.

In the 1990s, ABS was not required for auto-manufacturers. I'm not driving slow to be a prick, but doing 85 in that boat with a soft suspension is terrifying. 95 is a death wish move.

General PSA to those who might need to hear it. That huge buffer I leave between me and the car in front of me, I need that. If I get hard on the brakes, my wheels will lock up and I will have less control until I release and then reapply. For cars built without ABS, that's how breaks work.

Some people drive cars even older than mine where they have to pump their brakes to stop.

If you see someone in a old car driving slow please just go around. Please.

[riehwvfbk]

Cars that require the driver to pump the brakes should not be on the road. Cars without ABS have shorter stopping distance than cars with it (yes, more control, but this is California we are talking about, the road is always dry).

[effluvium]

Maybe so, I seem to recall hearing that one point. However, there's a lot of variables to that (i.e., road surface [pot holes/dips], surface temperature, sand/salt on the surface, tire type, etc). What I can tell you is that even on dry road services, she gets squirrely if I lock them up, so I avoid screeching my tires. I owned several boats (i.e., a large sedan) without ABS, and they've all behaved the same.

This conversation also has me wondering, how many people don't understand ABS (not you). What I'm getting at here is how many people drive in a manner that has them constantly activating their ABS system...

[toast0]

I haven't activated ABS for braking very often, but it's pretty loud when I do... Not as loud as locking up tires, of course. But I would think people would learn to change their driving if they're getting thumping on braking frequently.

[toast0]

I think the finding is that for a straight line stop on dry, good pavement and a trained driver with proper technique, a car with ABS will take more distance.

But if you don't have those preconditions, ABS will likely shorten the distance. Many drivers never had the training and practice to modulate the brakes for maximum stopping while maintaining heading.

But there's 100+ years of regulatory practice to allow vehicles to continue on the road as long as the meet the standards when they were manufactured.