Now know the minimum stopping distance required

JanAndBill

Well-known member
Cruising down I-40 yesterday at 55 in a 55 zone, in the far right truck lane. I was behind a tractor bob-tail, and I could see in front of him there was clear road. On my left was heavy traffic. As we came up to a semi trailer parked on the shoulder, the driver of the bob-tail must have woke up and realized he was there after this trailer, because he locked up his brakes. I saw the smoke from his skidding tires, but it didn't register at first, because he had no working tail lights. By the time it did register, I couldn't go right because of the trailer, and couldn't go left because of traffic. The only thing I could do was stand on my brakes and hold it straight, hoping we didn't jack knife. Fortunately for us, the driver whipped off in front of the trailer about 20' ahead of what was going to be the impact point. It's easy to be swayed into decreasing your following distance, placing your trust in another driver to not do something stupid. It's not so easy to correct when that driver does the unthinkable.
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
WOW - what a trip!!!! Since I have been hauling horses for almost 47 years and knowing that I had live cargo behind, I always make sure I have plenty of distance between me and the vehicle in front of me. Guess it's ingrained in me cuz I do the same when pulling the Grey Ghost but that still sometimes doesn't account for other drivers stupidity, like drivers cutting in front of me cuz of the space between me and the front vehicle.
Byrd
 

DesertThumper

Well-known member
Sorry to hear of what happen. Glad you are ok. I've always used the rule to have 150 ft of space in front so I have enough time to make an urgent move. Sometimes more depending what is in front of me.
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
Glad you're ok. I always expect the nimrods in front of me to do something dumb, so I give everyone wide berth. I'm usually not disappointed, unfortunately.

Martha
 

gebills

Well-known member
Not much a person can say there JanAndBill; we have all been caught in that position, no matter how safe we try to be. If another driver does something stupid, we pray we aren't in his/her way. I suppose the old adage applies here; "ya can't fix stupid." Glad you're okay and hopefully no damage done to your tires or RV.
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
Locked mine up on very wet pavement one time when a Yay-Hoo cut in front of me to get off at the next exit. Thank God the truck and trailer tracked straight as a narrow. Very scary when this occurs though. Think my heart rate was up the rest of the day.


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mdamerell

Member
When I teach Smith System Driving Techniques to truck drivers, we teach them a minimum 6-8 second following distance (500-700' at 60 mph) and to keep your eyes looking at least 15 plus seconds down the road to identify possible issues. As you have probably experienced, not everyone practices this.
 

marvmarcy

Well-known member
Its also smart to slow down when being followed too closely. That way you can brake more gently and use more of the space ahead, allowing the tailgater more time and distance so he doesn't rear end you.
 

JanAndBill

Well-known member
When I teach Smith System Driving Techniques to truck drivers, we teach them a minimum 6-8 second following distance (500-700' at 60 mph) and to keep your eyes looking at least 15 plus seconds down the road to identify possible issues. As you have probably experienced, not everyone practices this.

In a perfect world you are correct, and honestly I try to keep as much distance as possible. With that said, on a 6 lane interstate with all the trucks and other slow moving traffic crowed into the right two lanes, plus oncoming traffic merging in, you are lucky to get anything close to that. If you maintain to much distance it invites merging traffic from the right and left to cut you off, to little distance and you run the risk of not being able to stop. Add to that weather conditions, and your ability to see in front of the vehicles ahead.
 

Wmnmy

Well-known member
Glad your ok we had similar experience on I-15 215 connector I had great following distance between myself and the vehicle in front of me and some knuckle head came over from 4 lanes of traffic to get in my cushion space then traffic suddenly stopped and he slammed on his brakes and I was touching pavement with mine and was inches from his rear bumper with no where to go luckily traffic started moving slow cuz I wasn't stopping on a dime I saw his eyes in his rear view and he was bracing for the hit which didn't happen and I sucked up my captains chair lol lucky I guess but now I expect someone to do something stupid .
 

TXTiger

Well-known member
Its also smart to slow down when being followed too closely. That way you can brake more gently and use more of the space ahead, allowing the tailgater more time and distance so he doesn't rear end you.

Glad you were able to come out of this unharmed. I was taught in my motorcycle safety school that if some one is tailgating you the best thing to do is to slow down and make them pass you. Speeding up only lets them speed up too. I also leave a lot of space between me and the vehicle in front of me when towing, but have had someone cut in front of me and then slam on the brakes because traffic was stopping. My motorcycle class also taught me to look three or four cars ahead and anticipate traffic. I was able to stop just before hitting the jerk who cut me off.
 

kowAlski631

Well-known member
Years of driving in Washington DC traffic every day with people from every state in the union there on business or vacation as well as the diplomatic corps made both of us very defensive drivers. Nothing we experienced there prepared us for the total heart pumping excitement we get when drivers squeeze their vehicles in front of us as they merge. Oh yeah, never worry about needing further excitement those days!
 

caissiel

Senior Member
When I teach Smith System Driving Techniques to truck drivers, we teach them a minimum 6-8 second following distance (500-700' at 60 mph) and to keep your eyes looking at least 15 plus seconds down the road to identify possible issues. As you have probably experienced, not everyone practices this.

Well said and very important to know.

I used one car lenght (20 feet) per
10 MPH and truck is 3 times that loaded. At 60 MPH it's 60 x 20 for 120 ft and 360ft min. with loaded truck and following a motorcycle I double again. Learn that at defensive driving training. And hardly have a situation that present caution, but always worry about cars behind me when I slam the brakes specialy on wet roads.

In addition I read that in some states a driver that cuts in to close after passing can be charged for dangerous driving.

That's why I always drive at less then traffic speed and cars always run away in front of me and its much more relaxing seeing the space growing in front.


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danemayer

Well-known member
I've attached a couple of pages from the Texas CDL Handbook that has a good explanation of things to consider in managing speed and space.
 

Attachments

  • Pages from CDL Handbook Texas DL-7C pp32-35.pdf
    42.1 KB · Views: 8

Manzan

Well-known member
This last summer we had two close calls but by vehicles behind/along side. The first one, DW was driving and we came up on a slow truck and signaled to change lanes. Nothing along side so started to pull over. Car coming up from behind, hugging the right side of the lane, whipped out to pass us. Rather violent maneuver to get out of his way but managed to keep control. Next thing we knew, a car pulled along side and pointed to the back of our trailer. Pulled over and the 'stinky slinky' was half out of the bumper. The violence of the maneuver popped the cap off and inside, a drawer came open and so did a cupboard but little came out. The next one, in heavy traffic, the car on my right side decided to change lanes. The front of my Suburban was about the middle of his hood and if he had checked his rear view mirror he would have seen at least my trailer. Hard to hide something 45' long in a blind spot. Did the reverse of DW's maneuver, stayed in control, and nothing came out of cabinets this time. DW looked at him and he seemed scared to death and very chagrined about what he almost caused. We exercise defensive driving but how do you prevent idiots threatening you from behind or along side?
 
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