Georgia Truck Driver Stopping Distance

Today a little bit about stopping distances and what the truck driver should know about the stopping distances. At 55 miles per hour, the trucker should know, according to the commercial driver’s license manual, that it will take 450 feet to stop. Truckers should be able to calculate stopping distances at different speeds. Stopping distance consists of three different factors, the first being presumption distance, plus the reaction distance, plus the braking distance, and that equals the total stopping distance.
The reaction distance is defined as the time that it takes your brain to tell your foot to remove itself from the gas pedal and to put your foot on the brake pedal. The average driver has a reaction time of three-quarters of a second and if the driver is driving at 55 miles per hour, this means that there will be an additional 60 feet needed to stop. The braking distance, of course, is the distance actually traveled from the time that the truck driver places his or her foot on the brake to the time that they actually come to the stopping or the resting place.
If the driver is actually driving at 55 miles per hour then, it will take approximately 390 feet and about four and a half seconds to actually come to a full stop. As to the total stopping distance, if the driver is driving 55 miles per hour then, the driver is going to need 450 feet or approximately six seconds to stop the truck. Of course, the trucking manual discusses the fact that at faster speeds, there will be a greater impact by the truck upon another vehicle depending on the speed.
For example, if the speed of the truck goes from 20 miles an hour to 40 miles per hour, the impact actually increases four times. If the truck goes from 20 miles per hour traveling to 60 miles per hour traveling then the impact is actually nine times greater. Note this, too, that if the truck is actually traveling at 60 miles per hour, it takes a full football field for the truck to stop. If you have questions about whether there was a proper stopping distance by the truck or in your case, call my office at 770-792-1000.