80 km/h
1 s
0.7
Reaction distance grows in step with speed, but braking distance grows with its square — so the ground covered before the car stops pulls away from what the speedometer intuitively suggests, and most of it is travelled after the driver has already responded.
Total distance to a full stopDistance covered before the brakes biteWhere the car would stop if distance simply scaled with speed
Metres travelled at unchanged speed while reacting22.22 m
Share of the stopping distance spent under braking62%
Interactive artifact by Delineo