My family owns a wrecker business and we have seen some bad ones too, and you are correct. We had two 16 year old girls in a compact car overcorrect and wrap it around a tree at 60 mph. Both girls were squeezed into a space about 6 inches wide and the front and rear bumpers of the car were touching. Another girl overcorrected a chevelle and slid it on the drivers side door. No seat belt and a rolled down window. Most of her was still in the car.

 

I have found in my travels that the early ABS systems were "dumb" as in the threee good wheels pulsing because the one wheel on ice caused the system to panic. This is how it is on my 1991 Saab and my 03 F250.

The new systems, on the other hand, do an excellent job of maintaining total vehicle control. My father's 2013 Focus ST and my buddies 14 Mustang, for example, modulate individual wheel ABS. Driving my dads car through snow and proceeding to slam on the brakes causes the car to ever so slightly shimmy, as the individual wheels slip then regain grip. I've never felt safer than in that car.

Now the problem is that many people own older trucks with the "dumb" ABS and traction control systems. Those that have confidence and THINK AHEAD make it through year by year just fine. Those that don't, get in the newspaper...

 

Another good thing about abs is that it removes the possibility of one or more wheels not locking up or having equal braking. Those old enough to remember saw the black panic stop strips on the road with some missing of the four. I'm sure abs has played a role in reducing accidents.

 

Well that was fast!