The 2 second rule will it work at 70 mph, if the car infront stops instantly. i.e. crashes.?

Question

On a dry road is the "2 second rule" enough distance to leave when travelling at 70 mph?

Will it still work if the car infront stops instantally i.e the car infront crashes.

Answer 1

No, in the case that the car in front of you stopped truly instantaneously, two seconds would not be enough. For most people it would take about 1 second to realize the problem and apply the brakes. That would leave 1 second to decelerate from 70 mph. An average car would need several times that to come to a stop.

Answer 2

At 70 mph, a vehicle is traveling at 102.6 ft/sec. With the 2-second rule. you would be 205.2 ft behind. If your reaction time is, say, 0.25 seconds (which is close to that of a drag racer), you will have traveled 51.3 ft. That gives you 153.9 ft to bring your vehicle to a stop. Even with a lightweight vehicle, chances are there will be a collision.

Answer 3

As you're speed increases, the distance required to keep to the 2 second rule will increase as well. So it works at every speed. 2 seconds should be enough of a cushion for you to realize the car in front of you is about to be in an accident.

Edit: When you can't stop, thats when OFFENSIVE driving comes in to play. If you're just defensive and all you do is hit the brakes, than yeah, you're gonna hit them. But it's almost always better to try and get by on the shoulder, or go around in the other lane when there's no hope of stopping..

Answer 4

2 seconds is not necessarily enough.

it also depends on the speed and the distance for the driver to think and apply the brakes. Momentum also plays a good part and is the likely source to decrease the impact of a crash

Answer 5

won't give you enough time since you rely on the car in front taking some time to stop also. if that is instant you would need at least 4 seconds to maby avoid the collision.<

Answer 6

Nope...........I use the 1 car length for every 10 miles per hour, so at 70 I would be 7 car lengths behind....