Braking action involves
perception time
and
recrctior? time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal.
That’s
perception tir~e.
Then you have to bring
up
your
foot and do
it.
That’s
rccrction time.
Average
reaction time
is about
3/4
of a second.
But
that‘s only an average. It might be
less
with one driver
and
as
long
as
two or three seconds or more
with
another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination
and eyesight all play
a
part.
So
do alcohol, drugs and
frustration. But even
in
3/4
of
a second, a vehicle
moving at
60
mph
(100
km/h) travels
66
feet
(20
m).
That could be
a
lot of distance
in
an emergency,
so
keeping enough space between your vehicle and others
is important.
And, of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly
with
the surface of the road (whether it’s paven-~ent or
tread; the condition
of
your brakes; the weight of the
vehicle and the amount
of
brake force applied.
t,
Oravel); the condition of the road (wet,
dry,
icy); tire
Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive
in
spurts
--
heavy acceleration followed by heavy
braking
--
rather than keeping pace with traffic. This
is
a
mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between
hard stops. Your brakes
will
wear out much faster
if
YOLI
do
a
lot
of heavy braking.
If
you keep pace with the
traffic and allow realistic following distances, you will
eliminate a lot
of
unnecessary braking. That means
better braking and longer brake life.
If
your engine ever stops while you’re driving, brake
normally but don’t pump your brakes. If
you
do, the
pedal may get harder to push down.
If
your engine
stops. you
will
still have
some
power brake assist. But
you
will
use
it
when you brake. Once the power assist is
used
up.
it
may take longer to stop and the brake pedal
will
be harder
to
push.
4-6
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