Evaluation of electronic stability control effectiveness in Australasia

Effectiveness of Electronic Stability Control on Single-Vehicle Accidents

“…The literature show the effectiveness of ESC in the range 23% to 43%, which is in line with the 31% (OR = 0.69) reduction in risk of singlevehicle accidents that we find based on logistic regression. Although this study and the studies from the literature do not use the same set of variables in calculation of the adjusted risk reduction, they all, except for Scully and Newstead (2008), adjust for age and gender, which are 2 important factors when it comes to risk in traffic. Page and Cuny (2006) controlled for ESC, driver age and gender, vehicle age, road surface, location, and year of accident.…”

“…Page and Cuny (2006) controlled for ESC, driver age and gender, vehicle age, road surface, location, and year of accident. MacLennan et al (2008) controlled for driver age, gender, traffic violation, vehicle type, model year, and vehicle age at time of the accident; Scully and Newstead (2008) controlled for vehicle age and vehicle type. Page and Cuny (2006) did not find any effect of gender but, similar to our study, they found that younger persons have a higher accident risk; in fact, the odds ratio for the age group 18-24 years was one of the highest in the study.…”

“…The study reported a reduction in risk by 32% when ESC is present in the car. Scully and Newstead (2008) used a Poisson regression model with 3 confounding variables: Year of vehicle manufacture, vehicle type (SUV vs. passenger car), and crash type (rear-end vs. not rearend). From this analysis they found a reduction in accident risk by 24% for ESC-equipped passenger cars in single-vehicle accidents.…”

News and notes

“…An Australasian study conducted by the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) has confirmed that Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems reduce the risk of single-vehicle crashes by up to 50% 1. The study, commissioned by 13 state and federal road agencies and automobile clubs, is the first to investigate the real world performance of ESC systems in reducing crash risk in Australia and New Zealand.…”

How Science Informs Engineering, Education, and Enforcement: A Message for Driving Instructors

“…On the other hand, self-selection and police-reporting bias cannot be ruled out. For example, ESC-equipped car crashes may be more likely to be entered into the police records for the simple reason that equipped cars are more expensive or used by different types of drivers than nonequipped cars (Scully & Newstead, 2008). This could mean that the crash reduction potential of ESC is actually underestimated.…”