Road Safety - ABS (Anti-lock Braking System)

Knowing how your car behaves under various abnormal situations is your first step towards being a safe driver.

Improper use of ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) will increase your stopping distance and severity of collision.

IMPORTANT: Practice. Learn how your ABS system reacts on emergency braking. Find a desolate road, or a parking lot. Get your car up to speed - say 60km/h and slam on the brakes..... Note the results :) Take some time to read the following before you do it.

"The problem is that stopping with antilock brakes, in an emergency situation, requires an entirely different braking technique than the one used with conventional brakes, and virtually no drivers have had or taken the opportunity to learn this new technique.

Different ABS systems work and react differently under extreme braking. While they all prevent the brakes from locking up, many of them generate pedal feedback -- pulses or bumps -- when they're working. They may seem to be pumping themselves; they may alternate between feeling firm and feeling soft; they may feel as though the pedal is going to the floor. The instinctive reaction for most drivers when they feel this strange brake pedal action is to reduce brake pressure, which deactivates the ABS, increases stopping distance and can actually cause a loss of control by upsetting the car's balance.

If you have a car with ABS you must learn to use it. ABS works and works well when you apply maximum braking pressure and HOLD it. DO NOT pump or ease off on ABS brakes in an emergency braking situation, no matter what they seem to be doing. If you steer while in an ABS stop, do it smoothly, but don't, under any circumstances, release or lighten your pressure on the brake pedal until your car is stopped completely."

by Tim Moser of Silhouette Racing

What you should know about ... Anti-lock Braking System: How do I use ABS?

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/roadsafety/tp-tp13082-abs2_e-215.htm