The effects of electronic stability control (ESC) on crashes--an update.

The present study is an update of the meta-analysis by Erke (Erke, A., 2008. Effects of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on accidents: a review of empirical evidence. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 40 (1), 167-173). Results from 12 studies of the effects of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on the number of different types of crashes were summarized by means of meta-analysis. The results indicate that ESC prevents about 40% of all crashes involving loss of control. The greatest reductions were found for rollover crashes (-50%), followed by run-off-road (-40%) and single vehicle crashes (-25%). These results are however likely to be somewhat overestimated, especially for non-fatal crashes. Multiple vehicle crashes were found to be largely unchanged. Reductions were found for some types of multiple vehicle crashes. Rear-end collisions are unchanged or may increase. Fatal crashes involving pedestrians, bicycles or animals were found to increase as well. ESC was found to be more effective in preventing fatal crashes than non-fatal crashes. ESC is often found to be more effective in Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) than in passenger cars. This may be due to differences between drivers of SUVs and passenger cars. The results from meta-analysis indicate that drivers of ESC-equipped vehicles are likely to be safer drivers than other drivers. All the same, ESC may lead to behavioural adaptation in some cases, but it is not likely that behavioural adaptation offsets the positive safety effects. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about ESC.