Electronics are already causing a rash of “chain reaction accidents” here in Canada (Ontario) due to people following too close in winter conditions expecting garbage like ESC to save their carelessness. It’s be far more effective to have EVERY drive involved in a 100 car crash charged with careless driving then adding electronic excuses. If people HAD to learn to control their vehicles, they might just be a little more careful on the road.

ESC has taken the “Oh Sh**” factor out when someone is driving too fast in slippery conditions so now when they DO lose control, they’re going a LOT faster! And have learned NOTHING as the stability control covers up their bad driving skills.

Want better drivers? Ban ESC.

Observations have already made that driver ed and properly engineered, constructed purpose built vehicles are basic to driver efficiency, enjoyment, for those of us who travel beyond the madding urban fringe, putting our cars into challenging and genuine off-road terrain. And I mean dinkum Aussie outback ruts and ‘highways’ like the Arnhem from Mataranka and the Connie Sue into the Great Victoria. Even a lot of our prized High Country and the terrain around the Flinders, and up through the Kimberley demands proper cars with decent design and quality engineering as well as honest capability.

The Army has long favoured the rugged capability of the traditional Land Rover because of its lack of gadgetry and its capability, with after market quality control bugs sorted of course.

But the Land Rover Defender is a proper 4WD with the ruggedness to withstand constant corrugations, ruts, outback tracks, flint sharded mountains, rivers and desert.

The Army also insists its drivers learn how to drive, no matter what sort of civilian licence or training they might have. And there’s the rub. A civilian licence in Australia is mostly bought in the ribbon coastal fringe cities where the skill of motoring and joy of driving are inconclusive; where the choice of vehicle is - as demonstrated on the NRMA’s webpages - dictated as much by penny pinching as it is by marketing fashion and that distracting furphy of ‘residual value’.

Sure, we pay lip service to driver education, and give a cusory nod to high school driver ed, while at the same deploring the aggregate statistics of under-25 year age group road accident involvement.

City driving schools rarely take pupils out onto the highways, never into the rugged mountain ranges and ball-bearing slippery rural tracks.

Instructors rarely demonstrate skid pan correction procedure and rear wheel steering. Not that there’s much opportunity to do so: vehicle manufacturers continue to flog lighter, flimsier, cars that rely on wayward front wheel drive torque steer and power steering. This last ‘feature’ is unaccountably questionable for such lightweights.

So, without the bother of Federal Transport Departmental guidelines for graded vehicle licensing beyond the basically unsatisfactory ‘P’ plate, automatic-manual, national heavy vehicle, bus and articulated categories the ancillary and automatic ’safety’ wizardy of ABS/stability controls are an optimistic fallback at best.

Frustrated with the hazard that ABS provokes on long outback stretches such as the Plenty Highway where directional stability is frequently challenged by the road surface I’ve resorted to disconnecting the system.

Far better to be able first to drive according to the basics, if possible down to the nub of Pirsig’s ‘Zen and the Art of…”, especially when the gadgetry fails and driver awareness and ability are taxed.

Of course, better and safer cars aren’t made by cost-cutting accountants. Arthur H. illustrated this in his epic novel about the car industry.

While gadgetry preoccupies the Japanese and the German auto makers, Australia has a far greater need for driver training and awareness skills graduated according to terrain and vehicle.

On the other hand, the safest vehicle in Australia might therefore be a Robinson helicopter.

Hopefully this is something NRMA will push for.