We have mentioned it several times, but is never enough to remember when being behind the wheel. You must be extremely careful before the different phenomena that occur in and out of a vehicle; the previous includes the reaction, stoppage and braking distances, do you know them?
Join us in this journey and explore more about these key actions for a better road safety. As knowing the correct moment to brake your car will help you to avoid accidents, so take notes:
Reaction, stoppage and braking distances, what are those?
When driving, even though you perform it in a prudent way, will be some occasions that you must suddenly stop, without previous notice and at the moment.
Whether for an animal crossing on the road, a distracted pedestrian or other car that suddenly brakes, you must know how to act in these circumstances, from maintaining a safe distance to the possible consequences of not having one.
Here it is where the reaction, stoppage and braking distances come into play. Here we will explain what are those and how to apply them.
Braking
First you must know that exist two types of braking, progressive and instant one.
In the first case, occur when detect on time an obstacle and you softly, press the brake until a vehicle completely stops without any complication.
The second case occurs when for example, an animal, cyclist, pedestrian or car cross suddenly in your way, obliging you to press the braking pedal as soon and strong as possible, causing car completely stops, in an abrupt and instant way.
In this last example there are different dangers. In one hand, the other car can impact you from behind, not having time to react to your braking; on the other hand, you and the passengers might suffer the impact causes by the movement that moves you forward when car is stopped.
Here lies the importance of having a safe distance and always wear the safety belt, of not doing it, all could impact against windshield or any other part of the car.
On the other hand, something that maybe you didn’t know is that car covers many meters from where we distinguish the obstacle until we step on the brake. Likewise, recover other meters before stopping for complete, for that is important to know the distances of reaction, stoppage and braking.
Stoppage distance
As name indicates, is the distance that covers from the moment the obstacle is detected until your car stops after step on the brake. It doesn’t matter if this occurs in progressive or sudden way.
However, you must consider that greater the speed, you will require greater braking distance, while faster you go, there will be more risks of injuries if you brake at the instant.
Reaction distance
The reaction distance measures the time it takes you to notice that you must brake after being detected the obstacle or braking zone. This can last from 0.5 seconds to 1 second, time where vehicle keeps advancing some feet.
In average, a careful and expert motorist, react in a second; if goes from 90 km/h can cover up to 25 m before braking. Delaying two seconds will double the distance.
Obviously, the danger increases by going faster. If, for example you go at 120 km/h in highway and you think in see your cellphone or distract you 5 seconds with any other thing, you will have cover up to 200 m without looking the highway.
How much would take you to cover 14 m? Maybe about 10 seconds, running in a moderate way. Well, driving at 50 km/h you would take a second. Do you imagine all what can occur if you don’t pay attention to driving?
Braking distance
This last distance is the route that the braking system of your car needs to stop completely. Now, even though much has to deal with your ability ad motorist, also influence in the mechanic state of your car and highway. If pavement is humid or wet, wheels have less friction, and braking requires more time and distance.
It should be noted that in these conditions, also influence the weight that we have in our car, due load also has to be with it. As heavier as we travel, we will delay more to stop.
How to calculate the reaction, stoppage and braking distances?
Exist many formulas to calculate the reaction, stoppage and braking distances.
For the reaction distance, is recommended to take the two first numbers of speed and multiply by three. For example: 120 km/h it’s equal to 36 meters (12 x 3), which is the distance you will cover until you react.
In order to calculate the braking distance, you have to multiply by square the speed and divide by 180. In the same case for 120km/h the approximate braking distance will be 80 meters.
To obtain the stoppage distance, you must sum all the previous results: 80 meters + 36 meters is equal to 116 meters.
However, we know that driving is not the best moment to sum, multiply and divide. For that, experts recommend to maintain a safety distance of between 2 to 3 seconds of the car in front of us.
