6 ONE LENGTH
6 ONE LENGTH
The old rule for following another car was one car length for every 10 MPH. That was back when cars were 16’ long; so at 30 MPH. that would be 54’, at 50 MPH. that was 80’ and at 65 MPH. that was 104’.
This was under ideal conditions; clear day, dry pavement, straight roads and your car working well.
For every hazard that came along, you were to drop 10 MPH; night time from 65 MPH. to 55 MPH; rain was another 10 MPH; and so on.
In a 65 MPH. zone, when you were forced to go under 40 MPH. you were supposed to put your four way flashers on and allow for cars to pass you by travelling as far to the right as was safe. The right hand lane, in a multi-lane highway is considered the slow lane.
When everyone is traveling around the maximum speed limit allowable, all the lanes can be used but expect anyone travelling slower to be in the right lane.
This also helps the police to catch the speeders because we legal drivers are generally in the right lane, leaving the police one less lane to watch.
When following another car in heavy traffic, it is wise to leave a little more space between you and them. If they get in trouble or have a crash, it will give you more time to react and avoid the crash site. If you are too close and they crash, you will probably become a part of it.
This also leaves a place for those who have to change lanes to get where they are going, so they can change lanes safer; avoiding you and the car in front of you.
If you have to travel a little closer, watch the traffic ahead through, the car in front of you,‘s windshield; when you see brake lights, start stopping before the car in front of you. This will give you a better stopping distance and a safer one.
Now, you’re probably looking at those MPHs and thinking ‘what is that?’
That is ‘miles per hour’; we old people know that from our childhood. One mile per hour is equal to one point six two kilometre per hour or 1MPH = 1.62Km. [I think that is how they print that.]
That 16’ is 16 feet; one foot is 12 inches or 30.48 centimetres. Three feet or one yard is almost one metre. [about 3 inches short of a metre.]
So, at 30 MPH [50 Km] 54’ would be between 16 and 17 metres.
50 MPH [81Km] 80’ would be 24 metres.
I know, I know; this is a lot more than we are seeing the drivers use today but, we have to remember, most of the drivers today are just happy to steer their cars; they don’t really want to learn how to drive them. [That is a lot of work and takes effort.]
The faster we go, the more distance we have to leave between us and the other guy. For airplanes, to come within a mile of each other is too close.
