1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://trb-annual-meeting.nationalacademies.org/registration

ESTIMATION OF STOPPING DISTANCES

Tyre grip on wet roads generally decreases with increasing speed. Its value at a given speed depends on many factors. The purpose of this report is to examine (1) how the variation of friction with speed affects stopping distances, and (2) the problem of extracting information on the stopping distances experienced by vehicles from road friction measurements using standard equipment, such as SCRIM. A brief review is given of present understanding of wet road-tyre friction. Based on this, an examination of the relationship between SCRIM measurements and those of the average tyre reveals that, while no useful quantitative statements can be made, certain qualitative guidelines can be laid down. A convenient formula is derived for stopping distances which takes account of the decrease of tyre grip with speed. Tables of stopping distances based on this formula are presented. One conclusion is that stopping distances from speeds above about 80 km/h are greater, often considerably greater than would be expected from road-tyre grip measured at 50 km/h. An incidental but important finding of the report is that the grip of the tyres of heavy vehicles (lorries and buses) is lower, often much lower than that of ordinary cars implying that these vehicles are more likely to skid and have longer stopping distances. /Author/

  • Corporate Authors:

    An Foras Forbartha

    St Martin's House, Waterloo Road
    Dublin 4,   Ireland 
  • Authors:
    • Golden, J M
  • Publication Date: 1976-11

Media Info

  • Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 43 p.

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00149170
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: Report No. RS183
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: May 31 1977 12:00AM