4 ms·
> If little Sally runs out into the middle of the road and you cannot avoid her by slamming on the brakes, you were going too fast for conditions. That's an un
by cgriswald 8y ago
> If little Sally runs out into the middle of the road and you cannot avoid her by slamming on the brakes, you were going too fast for conditions.
That's an unreasonable standard. You may be driving too fast for conditions, but being unable to stop in time when something unpredictably enters the roadway is, by itself, neither proof nor definition.
The average stopping distance for a passenger vehicle at 20 mph is 20 feet; to say nothing of a heavily-laden delivery truck. That's not including reaction distance. Sally might step out from behind a van. Or a large branch might fall from a tree. Or the wind might push over a garbage can. A dog may wander onto the interstate. Some accidents are unavoidable by simply applying the brakes, except by forgoing non-ambulatory transportation altogether.
- bryanlarsen 8y agoThe key is not to stop completely, it's to get down to a speed that's highly unlikely to be fatal to a pedestrian, 15-20 mph. So if you're on a street with obstructed sight lines, that means your max speed should be 15-20 mph.
- Bizarro 8y agoYour just making stuff up. There will always be roads where objects obstruct sight lines and little Sally is going to get mowed down and killed because she screwed up and ran into the street when she shouldn't have. I know there's the big hatred of cars here on HN, but in the real world NOBODY thinks that way. Accidents do happen and it's going to be fatal because the pedestrian screwed up.
- bryanlarsen 8y agoGoogle it yourself. The fatality rate at different speeds. Below 30 kph fatalities are very rare.