accident situation - car slams on breaks to complete stop in 55mph zone

Remeber - in the event of a crash, the dood that hit the brakes is
gonna tell the cops that a kid or deer or something ran onto the road.

dood! Gotcha some killer ghangi, huh?
Figure out the difference between 6 & 60 yet?

dood! Gotcha some killer ghangi, huh?
Figure out the difference between 6 & 60 yet?

Or he could just tell the cops his tar went flat.

Or he could just tell the cops his tar went flat.

Tim923 wrote:
> If a car slams on the breaks in a 55mph zone unexpectedly to a
> complete stop (as quickly as possible, he missed his turn perhaps),
> how much reaction time does the car behind need to avoid collision.
> Would it be fair for the car hitting the stopping car to get a ticket
> for tailgating?

No. If you tried to leave enough space to avoid that, people would cut
in constantly, so fast you couldn't have the space anyway, and everyone
on the freeway would rightfully regard you as an asshole.

The law needs to be changed so people in the following car's situation
don't get blamed, at least on freeways. If the guy ahead legitimately
needed to stop, and you're watching adequately, you'll nearly always
see it in plenty of time to anticipate the stop and avoid hitting him.
The tiny percentage of cases where you can't are just "luck of the
freeway"; you can't (rightly) avoid them except by not driving there.

Tim923 wrote:
> If a car slams on the breaks in a 55mph zone unexpectedly to a
> complete stop (as quickly as possible, he missed his turn perhaps),
> how much reaction time does the car behind need to avoid collision.
> Would it be fair for the car hitting the stopping car to get a ticket
> for tailgating?

No. If you tried to leave enough space to avoid that, people would cut
in constantly, so fast you couldn't have the space anyway, and everyone
on the freeway would rightfully regard you as an asshole.

The law needs to be changed so people in the following car's situation
don't get blamed, at least on freeways. If the guy ahead legitimately
needed to stop, and you're watching adequately, you'll nearly always
see it in plenty of time to anticipate the stop and avoid hitting him.
The tiny percentage of cases where you can't are just "luck of the
freeway"; you can't (rightly) avoid them except by not driving there.

Around 1/13/2005 11:50 AM, John David Galt wrote:

> Tim923 wrote:
>
>> If a car slams on the breaks in a 55mph zone unexpectedly to a
>> complete stop (as quickly as possible, he missed his turn perhaps),
>> how much reaction time does the car behind need to avoid collision.
>> Would it be fair for the car hitting the stopping car to get a ticket
>> for tailgating?
>
>
> No. If you tried to leave enough space to avoid that, people would cut
> in constantly,

Amazingly, that doesn't happen much IME.


--
~/Garth |"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie.
Almgren | I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave.
******* | And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant."
for secure mail info) --H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Around 1/13/2005 11:50 AM, John David Galt wrote:

> Tim923 wrote:
>
>> If a car slams on the breaks in a 55mph zone unexpectedly to a
>> complete stop (as quickly as possible, he missed his turn perhaps),
>> how much reaction time does the car behind need to avoid collision.
>> Would it be fair for the car hitting the stopping car to get a ticket
>> for tailgating?
>
>
> No. If you tried to leave enough space to avoid that, people would cut
> in constantly,

Amazingly, that doesn't happen much IME.


--
~/Garth |"I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie.
Almgren | I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave.
******* | And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant."
for secure mail info) --H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Tim923 wrote:
> If a car slams on the breaks in a 55mph zone unexpectedly to a
> complete stop (as quickly as possible, he missed his turn perhaps),
> how much reaction time does the car behind need to avoid collision.
> Would it be fair for the car hitting the stopping car to get a ticket
> for tailgating?

Depends how close you're following, and the stopping distance of the
car in front of you, and the braking ability of your car.