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From: herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: Obnoxious driver awards
Message-ID: <473@polaris.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Mar-86 19:28:32 EST
Article-I.D.: polaris.473
Posted: Mon Mar 17 19:28:32 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Mar-86 22:35:56 EST
References: <200@copper.UUCP> <224@gc49.UUCP> <478@codas.ATT.UUCP> <926@dataioDataio.UUCP>
Reply-To: herbie@polaris.UUCP (Herb Chong)
Distribution: na
Organization: IBM TJ Watson RC
Lines: 33

In article <926@dataioDataio.UUCP> (Rick Braman) writes:
>>> One car length for each "60" mph???  I defy anyone out there to stop
>>> a cycle going 60 mph in one car length (of course unless you run into
>>> the back of the car, that should stop you rather suddenly!)
>> Actually, that works out pretty well, as long as you can brake equaly
>> or better then the guy in front of you (he can't go from a velocity
>> of 60mph to 0 in less than a couple of seconds!).
>Given the fact that at 60 MPH you are covering 88 ft/sec, at 1 car length you
>have somewhere around 1/4 to 1/5 of a second between you and the guy in front.
>If he slams on his brakes I defy anyone to react that fast unless they drive
>with one foot on the brake pedal all the time.

as was pointed out in the middle quote, a car does not stop instantaneously.
if i'm 40 feet behind a car and i decelerate at the rate of 20 ft/s^2
and the car in front decelerates at 19 ft/s^2 and we hit the brakes at the
same time, i'll be further behind him than when i started braking.  taking
a full second to react, 40 ft may not be enough, but it's not that far off
from the distance needed to avoid collision.  one car length at 60MPH may
not be enough, but 3 or 4 is plenty if both drivers are alert and the
front car has working brake lights.  around here anyways, often neither is
true.

Herb Chong...

I'm still user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble....

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