Irish ‘No’ to auto braking

IRISH drivers are the least likely in Europe to have life-saving automatic braking in their cars, despite paying more than the average price for their vehicles.

The technology, introduced 10 years ago, cuts deaths on the road by a fifth and crashes by a third, according to studies. It costs €160 a car.

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) is particularly useful in wet or icy conditions as it recognises when a skid is about to happen and in a fraction of a second the control unit applies the brakes at individual wheels.