Misreperesention of relative stopping distances of cars and trucks in Ny Driver's Manual

In article <_oIBd.7865$wu4.773@attbi_s52>,
Brent P > wrote:
>In article >, Jack Brown wrote:
>> http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/dmanual/stopdist.gif
>
>It probably should be 103ft, which would be correct on the graph.
>193ft from 55mph is horrid stoping power. A hyundai takes that long to
>stop from 70mph. And it's one of the below average performing cars from
>70mph in the C&D road test digest. There is no way 193ft is the average
>of todays cars from 55mph.

If you look at the nose of the vehicle graphics, they match up with the
distances given (i.e. the nose of the car graphic is at 193 feet).

193 feet is absurdly long for any modern car stopping from 55mph.
However, they may be including reaction time / distance -- i.e. the
distance traveled from when the driver can see that s/he needs to stop
to the time s/he hits the brakes. I.e. if the driver has a 1.1 second
reaction time, then 90 feet traveled during the 1.2 seconds + 103 feet
of braking distance adds up to 193 feet.

Also consider that the "average" car driver includes those distracted (by
cell phones or other things) or not paying much attention to driving at
all. And that the "average" car in service may include those running
on 8 year old waterlogged brake fluid, underinflated mismatched tires, etc..

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Timothy J. Lee
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