A car moving at a speed of 60 mph will travel 132 feet before the car even starts braking. One going 25 mph will cover about 55 feet of road during this time period.

To determine how long it will take a driver to stop a vehicle, assuming a constant rate of deceleration, the process is to divide the initial velocity (in fps) by the rate of deceleration. You may want to use our Vehicle Stopping Distance Calculator to do Page 2 actual model calculations. 60 MPH = 88 fps.

Driver Care – Know Your Stopping Distance

Speed	Perception/Reaction Distance	Equal to Approx Number of Car Lengths (@15 feet)
30 mph	44 feet	6
40 mph	59 feet	9
50 mph	73 feet	14
60 mph	88 feet	18

Stopping distances at different speeds

Speed	Thinking + braking distance	Stopping distance
20mph	6m + 6m	12m (40 feet)
30mph	9m + 14m	23m (75 feet)
40mph	12m + 24m	36m (118 feet)
50mph	15m + 38m	53m (174 feet)

The safe rule is never to get closer than the overall stopping distance (see Typical Stopping Distances diagram, shown below) allow at least a two-second gap between you and the vehicle in front on roads carrying faster-moving traffic and in tunnels where visibility is reduced.

The two-second rule is a rule of thumb by which a driver may maintain a safe trailing distance at any speed. The rule is that a driver should ideally stay at least two seconds behind any vehicle that is directly in front of his or her vehicle.

Remember: The space between your vehicle and a large vehicle behind you on a highway should be four seconds at speeds of 46-70 mph, plus one second for every 10 feet of vehicle length.

On page 36 it reads, “When stopping behind another vehicle at a stop light, make sure you leave enough space to see where the rear tires of the vehicle in front meet the road. When the light turns green, return to a safe following distance.”

When your headlights fail while driving, your first course of action should be to reduce your speed. Reduced visibility means you will need more time to react and stop, so increasing your following distance is essential.

It’s something you should always do when stopped behind a car at a stoplight, during heavy traffic, or when a car has stopped while waiting to make a turn. The answer is making sure you can see the rear wheels of the car in front of you touching the ground.

Just as your vehicle is coming to a stop, ease the pressure off your brakes while maintaining the pressure on the clutch to avoid a sudden jerky stop. If you’re stopping for more than a second, put the handbrake on. This is good practice for the driving test, so use your handbrake even if you’re not on a hill.

Slowly take your right foot off the accelerator pedal and transfer it to the brake, pushing the brake pedal gently. Just before the car stops, push the clutch pedal with your left foot (manual car) Bring the car to a smooth stop. Put the car in neutral (manual) or park (automatic), keeping your foot on the brake.

Depending on the mass of the car stopping it may take 500 lbs of force. Each increase of the car’s speed increases the force to stop it geometrically. If the car is moving faster than the person can run then it would be very difficult to stop in fact a squatting person in front of the car would be an impact.

Follow these 4 rules to a 4-way stop to keep traffic flowing smoothly and safely.

• First come, first served. This applies to the road too.
• Yield to right.
• Straight over turning.
• Right over left.

Braking Techniques for Smooth Driving, Control & Reduced Stopping Distance

• Controlled braking.
• Threshold braking.
• Cover braking.

The absolute safest way to corner is to slow to the desired speed before a corner. However, advanced drivers often get the bulk of their braking done before a corner, and smoothly reduce the braking as they turn in.

You should always avoid heavy braking or accelerating while turning as this can cause your car to become unstable.

You should apply the brakes gently at high speeds, not slowly. At slow speed you should just apply them by the right amount, it doesn’t matter that much if you apply them suddenly or gently (you should still apply them gently though). Don’t worry too much about that though, most likely you’re doing it right anyways.

No, You should not engage clutch whenever you apply break. The vehicle will stop sooner when you are simply breaking, where as if you press clutch and then apply break right away, then stopping will be late, because pressing the clutch increases the RPM. It will also wear out the clutch.

You suddenly pull the parking brake and the entire force hit the wheels of your vehicle. The rear and front tires suppose to absorb the entire force, but instead, the rear wheel locks up and skid. The chances are that the entire car starts to slide sideways, which is more dangerous than you can even imagine.

Manual transmissions Less expensive to purchase – If you’re car shopping on a budget, then there’s really no contest between the manual and the automatic. On average, a manual transmission will cost you about a thousand dollars less than an automatic of the same model.

When compared with their automatic cousins, most cars with manual transmission tend to last longer – a length of time that can sometimes translate to years.