ANTI-LOCK BRAKING SAFELY

Anti-lock brake systems (ABS) can make emergency stopping safer by allowing a driver to steer through a panic stop. But they only work if the driver uses the proper technique.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, many drivers don't.

The foundation conducted an ABS study recently and concluded that panicked drivers often give the steering wheel an additional jerk when emergency stopping. The result is a severe swerve as the vehicle slows and stops.

That swerve, the foundation says, is often enough to cause the car to run off the road.

In a typical ABS-equipped car travelling 35 mph, the dart crossed two lane widths, enough to send the vehicle into oncoming traffic or off the roadway. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Admistration records, ABS cars had more single-vehicle, run-off-the-road crashes than cars without ABS, the foundation says.

The foundation suggests all drivers with antilock brake-equipped vehicles to practice using them in vacant parking lots -- in both wet and dry conditions -- before drivers get into a real emergency.