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Solving the Stopping Distance Riddle
May 02 2008 by Emily Hansen
Smart Taillights Sound Good to This Driving Coach
Being the mother of a teenager who’s learning to drive is really cool. I especially enjoy the one-on-one time with my son, who will probably spend a lot less time with me once he gets his license. One part I haven’t enjoyed so much is constantly reminding my son about all the things he needs to pay attention to while driving, including braking distance.
He seems to be having a hard time calculating exactly when he should begin slowing down for stopped or slowing traffic ahead. He tends to do all his stopping in a much shorter distance than a more experienced driver would. I think he must have a hard time differentiating between when a car is slowing down versus when it’s coming to a full stop. Obviously, this could be a problem for drivers behind him as well, and I don’t think this is only an issue for new drivers; the on-or-off nature of taillights makes it difficult to judge whether a car in front of us is just slowing down or coming to a complete stop.
I recently read an article about students at Virginia Tech who developed a technology that could help. The idea is brilliant yet simple: a horizontal bar of lights with four different states. The first is an amber/yellow color in the middle to show a car is slowing, then lights to the left and right that flash red when the braking becomes more earnest, followed by an entire bar flashing red if the stop is happening at a more alarming rate.
There are drawbacks at this stage of development — namely price — but hopefully the work will continue. In the meantime, I’ll continue to coach my son as he learns to leave more following distance ahead of his car and to brake long before he reaches those bunched-up cars on the highway. Wish me luck.
