Wow, abs must be great on a motorbike. In a car though, which continues in a straight line once the wheels lock, there is no quicker (not necessarily safer) way to stop, in a straight line, than to lock the wheels. Check out Roadcraft, the police driving handbook.If you, say, go round a corner to find the road completely blocked, locking up is your best chance of stopping.
I can't resist adding this rather controversial thing, which I have to fictionalise but is a truth I assure you.
In 1971 ish a young man was a front seat passenger in a Volvo 145 estate being driven by a member of the security services. The car was heavily loaded with hospital equipment. The vehicle was making extremely rapid progress through the Battersea district when it rounded a corner to find the road completely blocked just a few yards away. The driver then performed a manouvre which consisted of (more or less) spinning the steering wheel to the right and then slamming on the brakes. This positioned the car at 90 degrees across the road (effectively parallel with the obstruction) and we stopped absolutely dead. The car rocked but stopped instantly. The young man was in shock but the driver just grinned and said...."oh yes that's called the xxxxx stop". He then turned us fully round and set off again. Unfortunately no amount of memory raking can produce the missing word. But it's a taught manouvre. Not one I'd care to try though, but does improve on normal stopping distances, that's for sure.
