News 40 Weather: “Braking” into fall driving

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Every season has its own driving risks.

And if you’re an experienced driver, you may not give some of them much thought.

But it’s important to remember that in the fall, we start out driving like its summer.

But by the end of the season, as the air cools and snow becomes more likely, we’re having to drive like it’s winter.

And that means knowing how to stop safely.

On dry pavement, stopping usually isn’t a big deal…if you’re travelling at thirty-five miles an hour, you can usually stop between one hundred thirty and one-hundred seventy feet.

On wet pavement, it takes a little more space to stop, but you can usually stop in less than two-hundred feet travelling at thirty-five miles an hour.

Add wet leaves into the equation…something to slide on while you’re braking…and you’ll need quite a bit more distance to stop!

It can take more than three-hundred fifty feet to stop if you’re braking on wet leaves.

And when it comes to ice…physics isn’t on your side when you think about sliding and skidding but the distance needed to stop on ice at thirty-five miles an hour…as much as four hundred, twenty-five feet!

Now what about the time it takes to stop?

On dry pavement, you can stop in three or four seconds. 

On wet pavement, add a second or two to that total if you’re driving thirty-five miles an hour.

But on wet leaves…your time can triple or quadruple…it can take up to twelve seconds to stop!

And when it comes to braking on ice…while your fingernails are digging into the steering wheel out of fear…it can take a whopping fourteen seconds to stop!

And the faster you’re driving, the more distance it takes to safely brake…and it also takes more time, too!

If you’re driving at fifty miles an hour, it can take up to four hundred feet to stop on dry pavement…and on ice, over twelve hundred feet is required to come to a complete stop!

And if you remember the example of driving on wet leaves…it only takes between seven and eleven seconds to stop at 30 miles per hour.

But at fifty miles an hour…as much as twenty-six seconds.

Now let’s talk about braking on icy pavement again…to come to a complete stop on ice, driving at 50 miles an hour…your life may have flashed before your eyes in the thirty seconds it would take to stop.