A Road Safety Charity Wants To Increase Official Stopping Distances Because Apparently We're All Dimwits
You know how a lot of people have been saying for a long time that the stopping distances in the UK’s Highway Code need to be decreased because they’re based on 1960s Ford Anglia brakes? Well, a road safety charity is now calling for them to be increased.
Blaming a general lack of awareness among the average modern driver, Brake is saying that the reaction times – known as ‘thinking time’ in the Code – are too short to account for today’s oh-so-slow brains. Fair play, not everyone pays as much attention as they should, but modern brakes make mincemeat of the ones that set the benchmarks over 50 years ago.
Apparently, a study the charity commissioned with the Transport Research Laboratory showed that drivers take an average of 1.5 seconds to react to an emergency – not the 0.67 seconds listed in the Highway Code. In a statement, Jason Wakeford, Brake spokesman, said:
“These figures suggest stopping distances taught to new drivers in the Highway Code fall woefully short. Even though car braking technology has improved in recent years, the majority of the overall stopping distance at most speeds is actually made up of the time taken to perceive the hazard and react.”
We openly question the results of the study, though, which suggest that the overall stopping distances even from 20mph are seven metres longer than the rulebook says. Are the drivers in this study actually using the brakes? Stamp on the anchors at 20mph in any modern car and you have to peel your face off the steering wheel. There’s no way that hoofing the middle pedal won’t at the very least compensate for a slightly longer thinking time. We call bull.
We’re biased, of course, but we actually take an interest in cars and go to the trouble of learning and understanding how best to control them. We know how quickly we can stop them. Brake, meanwhile, wants the government to increase the listed stopping distances ‘as a matter of urgency’ in the next update of the Highway Code. Is anyone else rolling their eyes?
Comments
Stick Brembo brakes to all new cars
cost..
So if the car in front of you can stop in a shorter distance should you drive closer to the back of it? or further away?
Grosjean wouldn’t agree
Do stick on chinese knock offs count?
Do stick on chinese knock offs count?
Is people that afraid? I only brake hard almost stopped and slight when slowdown…the trick is to keep it progressive brake
7m is trivial. Just a colossal waste of time imo. I do think a lot of people need to learn their shotopping distances though. Particularly Audi drivers.
Are you f’cking kidding me. SLR McLaren can stop within legal braking zone, while doing 120 mph, and legal stopping zone is for 60 mph. And there are cars that brake even better.
Does this mean you should drive Closer to the the back of a “SLR McLaren” or further away?
To be fair, braking is only a function of tire grip, and at very high speeds a matter of downforce. The size of the rotors will only affect heat capacity, which is what affects fade.
Surely if they’re that concerned with drivers thinking distances they should be focusing on that, rather than making an arbitrary change to a measurement people already think is bull. Treat the problem not the symptom guys, a driver with a 1.5 second reaction time should be a driver without a license.
Whilst its patronising to petrol heads…you have to admit, it seems like fair advice for the amount of collosal ani also on the road. Particularly when they’re behind the wheel and the task of driving ranks forth or fifth on the list of priorities.
FAIL.
If the car in front of you is capable of stopping in far shorter distance, than the distance between you and car in front really does need to be increased.
What about the classics drivers
Maybe the drivers should have an MOT as well, if they fail, can they be scrapped too?
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