Say yes to cheaper van, home and car insurance

A top car journalist is calling for mandatory measures to be introduced which would see electronic stability control (ESC) braking systems fitted to cars in the UK.

Paul Horrell, who writes for Top Gear magazine, says the mandatory fitting of ESC braking systems will reduce accidents and cut car insurance claims.

His claims are backed up by figures released by the Thatcham Research Centre which show around 400 lives could be saved every year in Britain alone.

At present only six of the 38 car manufacturers in this country fit ESC braking systems throughout their range and Mr Horrell puts that down to the fact that drivers are more concerned with forking out for the mod cons.

"It seems that we're not prepared to pay for it," he said on BBC One's Breakfast programme.

"What happens in Britain, as it happens in many safety systems in the past, is that people have decided that they'd rather have air conditioning or a sunroof.

"I think that's a great shame and it seems that the most likely way that this (ESC Braking) will be fitted on all cars is if we're led by the nose by government and it's made mandatory, as for example anti-lock brakes and airbags recently have been. When these things were options people didn't buy them," he added.

It is estimated that the cost of fitting an ESC braking system to a car is in the region of £50, but Mr Horrell believes car companies are too concerned with making a profit.

"There are a lot of systems which they could fit for no money for example it costs more money now to build a car with wind-up windows…but they still put wind-up windows on the basic model so you trade up to the more expensive model and they make more profit overall," he said.

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