Origin of Highway Code stopping distance figures
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Hi Folks,
A friend who manages a driver improvement scheme asked if I knew how the stopping/braking distance figures in the Highway Code were first compiled.He was asked this question by a victim, I mean a client, oops! He is aware of the square root formula, 3x speed = 9 braking distance etc, and that reaction time depends upon state of mind, concentration, attitude, noticing a problem, planning a response and only then being able to get the right foot onto the middle pedal, all of which makes the current figures still valid because reaction times can be slowed by lack of concentration thus affecting total stopping distance.
I read somewhere that a Ford Anglia was used in about 1960 to check the figures but the question is ''How were they first compiled and when?'' Was it by actual testing or by pure maths. I am hoping that some senior forum member might know the answer.
Kind regards,
Mike B.
A friend who manages a driver improvement scheme asked if I knew how the stopping/braking distance figures in the Highway Code were first compiled.He was asked this question by a victim, I mean a client, oops! He is aware of the square root formula, 3x speed = 9 braking distance etc, and that reaction time depends upon state of mind, concentration, attitude, noticing a problem, planning a response and only then being able to get the right foot onto the middle pedal, all of which makes the current figures still valid because reaction times can be slowed by lack of concentration thus affecting total stopping distance.
I read somewhere that a Ford Anglia was used in about 1960 to check the figures but the question is ''How were they first compiled and when?'' Was it by actual testing or by pure maths. I am hoping that some senior forum member might know the answer.
Kind regards,
Mike B.