
Multiple-Car Collisions and Weather: Can We Stop the Carnage? - aaronbrethorst
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2012/11/multiple-car-collisions-and-weather-can.html
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lutusp
> Drivers are moving relatively close, many with insufficient following
> distance.

Another article by someone who doesn't understand the topic he's writing
about.

A "safe" stopping distance is only meant to take into account typical human
reaction times, in normal circumstances.

Let's say a car slams on its brakes. Normally the following car will have time
to react to the first car's commencing a stop if the separation distance is
sufficient. But this assumes that the first and second cars then slide across
the pavement in the same way, with the same stopping distances, distances
governed by this mathematical relationship to speed:

<http://arachnoid.com/wrong/index.html#Auto_Safety_1>

But if the first car crashes into a stationary object and stops abruptly, the
second car will crash into it, and in that scenario, _there is no safe
stopping distance_ because the normal braking distance relationship doesn't
apply.

This is why, to avoid this kind of car catastrophe, people _absolutely,
positively must_ pull over in fog or reduced visibility, not continue driving.
And as usual, this fact, _this requirement_ is not presented in the article.

What people don't know about their cars is astonishing. This is just one
example. Read more here:

<http://arachnoid.com/wrong/index.html#Auto_Safety_1>

