Sure decreases stopping distance in certain conditions, take a sheet of 
ice, compare just standing on the brakes with and without ABS on a 
straight stop, or with one side wheels good traction. A skillful (how 
many of those do you know) driver may be able to better the numbers.  
And yes the ABS is great on turns, but not the answer.Was just the other 
day with 2002 Cougar, front wheel drive, big engine, ABS and traction 
control, was making tight (maybe 50' radius) turn at low speed on ice. 
Was at no throttle, tranny in drive, front start sliding, a little 
throttle ans front sliding friction turned to static friction, and turn 
completed on planned track. Neither ABS or traction control helped 
there. To add enough throttle for those to become active, and the 
remainder of the turn would have been too fast for anything to help.



William "Chops" Westfield wrote:
> On Jan 25, 2008, at 11:08 PM, Apptech wrote:
>
>   
>> A competent authority has assessed that ABS brakes INCREASE stopping
>> distances on gravel (metal) surfaces by typically 20+ percent.
>>     
>
> Is that a surprise?  I thought the point of ABS was to increase
> CONTROL (steering) during heavy breaking, not so much to decrease
> stopping distance.  In fact, I'm surprised that ABS *ever* decreases
> stopping distance...
>
> BillW
>
>   
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