1997 Chevrolet S10 Pickup Owner's Manual - Page 143

You have three systems that make your vehicle go where you want it to go. They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. Al three systems have to do their work l at the places where the tires meet the-road. Braking action involvesperception time and reaction time First, you have to decide to push ob the brake pedal. That's perception time.Then you.have tobring up your foot and do it. That's reaction time. Average reaction time is -about 3/4 of a second. But that's only an average. It might .be less with m e driver and as long as two or three seconds or more with another. Age.,physical condition, alertness, co.ordinati.on and eyesight all play a part.So do aIcohol, drugs and frustration. But even in 314 of a second, a vehicle m htravels 66 feet (20 m). moving at 60 mph (100 k / ) That could be a lot of distance in an emergency, so keeping -enoughspace between your vehicle and others is important, And, of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly with the surface of the road (whether it's pavement or gravel); the condition of the road (wet, dry, icy); tire tread; the condition of your brakes; the weight of the vehicle and the amount .of brake force applied. Sometimes, as when you're driving on snow or ice, it's easy to ask more of those control systems than the tires and road can provide. That means you can lase c.ontrol of your vehicle. 4-6 . -