Reply to post: Re: Maybe you "Entitled" cyclists....

Google robo-car suffers brain freeze after seeing hipster cyclist

Charles 9

Re: Maybe you "Entitled" cyclists....

"Anyone who knows about friction will tell you that a heavier vehicle does not need a longer stopping distance"

That depends on the strength of the vehicle's brakes versus the inertia of the vehicle. Since the brakes on a truck aren't proportially larger relative to its weight versus a car, that means the truck has a harder time stopping. With trains, the brake:weight ratio's even lower AND it has to contend with the reduced friction of its riding surface (a smooth steel rail versus a rough, frictious road). Then you have ships, which cannot use the sea as a means to stop so have no real "brakes" persay. They stop by reversing thrust, which for a huge vessel takes some time (again, huge ship, tiny propellers). Airplanes are somewhere in the middle of all this. They have brakes but they're really only for when they're taxiing so have to first use thrust reversers upon landing to slow down to come back down to taxi speed.

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