1998 Pontiac Grand Prix Owner's Manual - Page 199

Control of a Vehicle Braking perception time and You have three systems that make your vehicle go where Braking action involves reaction time. you want it togo. They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. All three systems have do their work to First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal. at the places where the tires meet the road. That's perception time. Then you haveto bring up your foot and doit. That's reaction time. Average reaction time is about 314 of a second. But that's only an average. It might be less with one driver and as long as or three secondsor more with two another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination and eyesight all play a pat. So do alcohol, drugsand frustration. But evenin 314 of a second, a vehicle moving at 60 mph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m). That could be lot of distance in an emergency, so a keeping enough space between your vehicle and others is important. And, of course, actual stopping distances greatly vary with the surfaceof the road (whether it's pavement or gravel); the conditionof the road (wet,dry, icy); tire of tread; the conditionof your brakes; the weight the vehicle and the amount of brake force applied. Sometimes, as when you're driving on snowice, it's or easy to ask more of those control systems than the tires and road can provide. That means you can control lose of your vehicle. 4-6