Safe Vehicle Stopping Distance

Posted November 1st, 2017 by The Dispatch & filed under Company Communications.

Welcome to our second issue of In the Driver’s Seat — the Monthly Bulletin for Mover’s Choice Online users. This Users’ Guide provides information about putting the Mover’s Choice Online Platform to work for you and your operations, as well as highlighting industry trends and news you can use.

This month we highlight the issue of Safe Vehicle Stopping Distance and how our online training portal can help you mitigate this issue within your organization.

Safe Stopping Formula

Perception distance + Reaction distance + Breaking distance =

Total Stopping Distance

• Perception distance — The distance traveled from the time a driver sees the hazard until the brain recognizes it. Perception time is about 3/4 of a second. At 55 MPH a truck will travel 60 feet in that time.

• Reaction distance — The distance traveled from when the driver’s brain tells the driver to move his foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal. Average reaction time is 3/4 of a second. At 55 MPH a truck will travel an additional 60 feet for a total of 120 feet.

• Braking distance — The distance it takes to stop once the driver brakes. At 55 MPH on dry pavement with good brakes, a heavy vehicle takes about 390 feet and 4 seconds to stop.
• Total stopping distance — At 55 MPH it will take about 6 seconds to stop a truck and it will have traveled about 512 feet.(1)

Safe Stopping Statistics

You can’t “stop on a dime” — a heavy vehicle traveling at a speed of 55 mph takes 512 feet to come to a full stop – that’s almost the length of 2 football fields!

Fender Benders — Rear-end collisions are the most common traffic accident in the US.(2)

Watch the Weather — Stopping distance is greatly affected by weather — a wet road has less friction between the tires and the road surface which increases the stopping distance of a vehicle.