I have to question the logic behind fitting ESP or why you'd even bring it up as having some sort of link to the issues. I mean, it couldn't possibly be anything to do with the appalling lack of driving skills rather than a reliance on technology to get people out of the trouble they shouldn't have got themselves into in the first place.

I've said it before (as have many others) and I'll repeat once again for the slow people (Dave), better driver education is the answer.

Fitting ESP etc is a bandaid for the symptoms. Don't fix the symptoms. Fix the underlying cause of the problem.

I don't see how stability control is relevant to many of those situations - the BMW is out of control - the other 9 are all plain stupid decisions by the drivers concerned.

Mental stability controls might be relevant, but not electronic ones.

What has ESP go to do with stupid driving? if you dont drive properly whatever car you drive will not make any difference because its your stupid attitude which is causing you to drive like that not lack of ESP. get real..........

Its a shame that drivers cant be fitted with mental stability control. Ive seen too many idiots on the road lately!!

ESC does not help a driver incapabel of being aware of where they are or what they are doing.... sadly, young asian women mostly.

Videos in trucks is a good idea, but who watches the idiot truck drivers who wont let you in when you indicate, who pull out i front of you even though they have a semi on the back as well, who fail to give way, who cut you off and who exceed the speed limit in a vehicle 30x the weight of yours?

People are stupid. This is no great secret.

ESP wouldn't fix the problems of people failing to give way properly, or trying to get back on a roundabout when they're already halfway out. That's just stupidity & "me first" thinking.

How about comparing the proportion of UJI's in the videos to the proportion of OJI's in the whole NZ fleet? I'd say they're fairly similar. It's not the fact that they're lower tech that they feature prominently in the videos, it's the fact that they're such a common type of car on our roads.

As a classic car owner (1960s car, no electronic safety net stuff) I do not want greater insurance premiums because of brainless twerps that put themselves in situations that someone who cares about themselves and their car would not. Dave, you have missed the point entirely and reached the wrong conclusion by thinking electronic do-dads solve everything including this problem you have observed. Ask Toyota and Honda owners whose unsafe crash prone vehicles are being recalled for electronic 'anomalies'.

The real reason UJIs feature so prominently is, 1. There are so many of them, 2. They are dirt cheap and thus bought in great numbers, 3. They are pushed by dealers with minimum deposits required and any meathead can afford to get dangerous, 4. All the above reasons mean high numbers of braindead cretins have them and are driving around as they wish, regardless of others.

As an aside, I'd suggest that these electronic devices have led to poorer driving and a false sense of security by idiot drivers. I remember years ago when ABS came into vogue and being in a car with someone who followed the car in front really closely. When I brought the situation to their attention they said it didn't matter as they had ABS. They believed the advertising hype, not the reality that ABS helps maintain control whilst braking hard, not reduce stopping time and distance. In the same vein, stability control will not save you in a totally bad situation, only a marginal one.

As it has always been, driver training and education is the answer. Then just lock up the cretins who never learn.

ESP, ABS, Traction Control, all of these are no substitutes or excuses for rubbish driving. I'm not saying they aren't handy to have, but if you are driving properly in the first place you shouldn't need them. A commenter on another blog recently made the succinct and accurate observation that our current licencing system has created a nation of car operators rather than drivers.

And why is it apparently unfair that these fools have been publicised (as you seem to be implying)?

I am also curious about your phrase "Excruciatingly close to the speed limit". Why is driving at the LEGALLY MANDATED speed a problem (again, as you seem to be implying)?

Many factors lead to better raod safety outcomes. Cars built to better standards, roads built to better standards and speeds set appropraitely for the road and locations.

However, the bit that undoes all the above is the nut behind the wheel. It does not matter how good the system is if the most critical part of the system is the weak point. For all you driver training advocates, yeah right. This will go some of the way, but once they have done their courses it still comes down to attitude and deicsion making. The nut behind the wheel has to get better...