1998 Chevrolet Corvette Owner's Manual - Page 197

Braking Braking action involves perception time and reaction time. First, you have to decide to push on brake pedal. the That's perception time. Then you haveto bring up your foot and do it. That's reaction time. Average reaction time is about 314 of a second. But that's only an average.It might beless with one driver and as long as two or three seconds more with or another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination So and eyesight all play a part. do alcohol,drugs and frustration. But evenin 3/4 of a second, a vehicle moving at 60 mph ( 100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m). That could bea lot of distance in an emergency,so keeping enough space 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 icy); tire gravel); the condition of the road (wet, dry, tread; the condition of your brakes; the weight the of of vehicle and the amount brake force applied. Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in spurts -- heavy acceleration followed by heavy a braking -- rather than keeping pace with traffic. This is mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between if you hard stops. Your brakes will wear out much faster do a lot of heavy braking.If you keep pace with the traffic and allow realistic following distances, you will eliminate alot of unnecessary braking. That means better braking and longer brake life. If your engine ever stops while you're driving, brake If normally butdon't pump your brakes. you do, the pedal may get harder to push down. If your engine stops, you willstill have some power brake assist. But you will use when you brake. Once the power assist is it used up,it may take longer to stop and the brake pedal ? will to be push. harder e . ..., .