Stopping Distances for Trucks: What You Need to Know to Stay Safe in Tallahassee

If you’ve ever seen the results of a truck accident in Tallahassee, you understand why it makes sense to do everything you can to avoid this type of collision. Commercial trucks can be 20 times heavier than the average passenger vehicle, so when a truck hits a car, the driver and passengers inside are likely to suffer horrific injuries.

The more you know about how trucks operate on the roads in the Tallahassee area, the better prepared you will be to take the right steps to help avoid a crash. One of the most crucial facts to understand is the stopping distance for different truck types. When you are aware of the space needed for a truck to slow down or stop to avoid a collision, you can try to allow enough space around you to stay safe. Of course, you cannot control the other drivers around you or other factors that can cause a truck accident, so it is also important to know what to do if an accident occurs. But focusing on prevention is the best place to start.

Common Types of Trucks on Tallahassee Roads

Trucks that share the roads with passenger vehicles in and around Tallahassee run the gamut in size, shape, weight, and purpose. Some are most commonly found on highways, while others make deliveries to and pickups from individual homes and businesses and frequently travel down small residential streets. That means that it is helpful to know how to gauge the stopping distances at different speeds and how the distance can vary for each type of vehicle.

• Tractor-Trailers, also referred to as 18-wheelers or semi-trucks, are trucks that consist of two or more separate vehicles coupled together. A tractor unit provides the power and controls the movement of one or more trailers pulled behind. These trailers are often over 50 feet long, but a large proportion of the trailer’s weight is supported by the tractor. Trailers may be configured as a box, or a flatbed commonly used to transport vehicles, or to include a tank for hauling liquids. Tractor-trailer combinations are often between 70-75  feet long and when fully loaded, Florida allows a gross weight of up to 80,000 pounds. State law also allows tractor units to pull two trailers on certain roads, increasing vehicle weight and length and decreasing stability.
• Heavy Class 7 Trucks are vehicles that generally weigh between 26,000 and 33,000 pounds and are frequently used for work in urban and suburban areas. Examples include garbage trucks, street sweepers, and buses, which often start and stop erratically and unexpectedly in the midst of traffic. Cement mixers and dump trucks are also heavy trucks that mix with residential traffic and operate in unexpected ways, and that may drop debris.
• Medium-duty trucks in classes four, five, and six weigh between 14,000 and 26,000 pounds and include delivery trucks, school buses, and bucket trucks used by utility companies. Some of these vehicles require a special license to drive, while others can be operated by drivers without training in truck operation. These vehicles can be up to 45 feet long.
• Light-duty trucks in classes one, two, and three include all sizes of pick-up trucks, some of which are used in commercial applications. These vehicles weigh between 5,000 and 14,000 pounds and may be more than 20 feet in length.

Factors That Create Stopping Distance

Stopping a truck or any other vehicle involves a few combined factors, some of which involve the mechanics of the vehicle itself and some of which involve the driver. In order of occurrence, these factors are:

1. Time needed for the driver to perceive the need to stop (perception)
2. Time in which the driver reacts and applies the brakes (reaction)
3. Time it takes for the brakes to begin to engage after the driver applies pressure to the brake pedal (brake lag)
4. Time that the vehicle continues to travel after the brakes begin to engage (braking time)

During all of this combined time, the truck continues to travel forward. When a driver is alert and focused on the road, the time for the first factor will be reduced, but it can be dangerously long if a driver is distracted, overly tired, or impaired. Reaction time can also be extended by impairment. 

Brake lag is dependent on the vehicle’s mechanical features, but it can be unnecessarily long if the brakes are not maintained properly or the tires are not inflated correctly. Finally, the time and distance the vehicle travels forward after the brakes engage is largely dependent on speed and weight, but the condition of the road, the tires, and other factors also play a significant role.

Stopping Distances Compared

Since trucks weigh more than cars, they have greater momentum while traveling along the road, and the higher the speed, the greater the momentum. More momentum increases the stopping distance. Because numerous factors can affect stopping distance, there is no simple formula for predicting it for different types of trucks. For instance, the lag time on the brakes is generally longer for trucks than for cars, but there can be significant variation among trucks.

For a basic comparison, assuming that drivers have the same perception and reaction times, it takes a tractor-trailer traveling at 40 miles per hour 56% more distance to stop than a car. And the percentage increases as speed increases. When both a car and a tractor-trailer are traveling at 55 miles per hour, if each vehicle travels 60 feet during the perception and reaction time, the truck will still take 110 more feet to come to a stop than the car. If both vehicles are traveling at 65 miles per hour, which is less than the common posted limit on many highways, the car will stop in 316 feet, which is a little more than the length of a football field. The tractor-trailer will take 525 feet to come to a stop – over 200 feet more.

Staying Safe Around Trucks

Even smaller trucks traveling at mid-range or low speeds will take longer to stop than a car, so you need to allow extra space when driving near trucks in all types of circumstances. If you are being followed by a truck that is not following you at a safe distance, it might be wise to pull over to let the truck pass. If you need to stop suddenly and the truck is unable to, you could be severely injured or killed.

At Searcy Denney, we are very aware of the dangers trucks pose on our roads because we often see the result when negligent practices cause collisions between cars and trucks. We know how to hold trucking companies accountable for the harm they cause. While we are prepared to help you in an accident situation, it would be better if you were able to avoid accidents altogether.

For more information about the assistance we can provide after a truck accident, call us at 888-549-7011 or contact us online now to schedule a free consultation.