Chris Tolley (ukonline really) gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying:

Since the 1960s car control has improved tremendously from power
steering through ABS brakes, yet the Highway Code still has the
stopping (thinking/braking) distances of old. I would like to see
these distances recast for modern cars with two tables, one for dry
conditions and one for wet.

The tables will continue to be current until all non-"modern"
vehicles are removed from the roads.

Even though the vehicles to which they are relevant are a _tiny_
minority of those on the roads - and they are wildly optimistic for
other vehicles?

This may come as a shock to you, but the tables never had anything to
do with real performance. They are a simple mathematical model linking
the speed in mph with the stopping distance in feet. Anyone with GCSE
maths should take no more than 2 minutes to deduce the formula that is
used..

Sure. But the formula was based on a roughly representative family car
of the period - the 105E Anglia, allegedly.

The formula is far too simple to be based on anything real.

No, but the formula would have been worked so that the resulting stopping
distances are approximately correct for "something real".

It no doubt gives and always gave a safety margin. But until every
relevant vehicle has ABS

Which doesn't actually make the slightest difference to stopping
distances, since it does absolutely nothing at all unless the driver
cocks up in a way that would have failed them their driving test.

and other suitable gizmos

You seem to miss the subtle detail that the distances are massively long
for any even remotely competent and roadworthy vaguely modern vehicle.