An interesting thought experiment

"Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street." (demon-xanth) 10/11/2013 at 17:29 • Filed to: None

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If you were driving at say, 120MPH, and a vertical cliff face popped up perpendicularly to the direction you were traveling. And you were 1 foot short on your braking distance if you kept straight.

Could turning instead allow you to avoid hitting the wall?

Why and why not?

(no, it's not for a class, I graduated before the Camaro was killed off)

deadpedal > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:32

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I think yeah. Or a last second handbrake 90...

Anon > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:33

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Well assuming that there are no cars or obstacles around you, you could turn, brake, pull your emergency brake, and pray all at the same time and you might be ok.

McMike > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:33

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Interesting question, indeed.

I would assume braking while turning would lengthen your stopping distance... But turning the car increases the distance to the wall. Hmmmmm

55Buick, Oversteer Scientist > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:34

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I would slam on the brakes, yank the parking brake and turn.

For Sweden > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:34

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Interesting thought experiment. Turning would lengthen the distance to impact, but turning requires tire grip that could instead be devoted to braking.

Not having any numbers to go on, I'm going to guess the later outweighs the former and turning would not keep you from hitting the wall.

deekster_caddy > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:37

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If you are only 1 foot short, just hit the wall! You will be going slow enough by that point not to cause serious damage.

(lazy answer)

BeaterGT > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:37

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The answer is clearly... fiery death.

PatBateman > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:38

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Technically, by turning, you would be increasing the distance the vehicle must travel before hitting the cliff. I would surmise that, by turning slightly at first, then increasing the turn as you slowed down (thus reducing the risk of spinning out), you could make up that foot and stop safely.

Physics may say otherwise, but that's my take.

ttyymmnn > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:38

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Is this going to be on the test?

Arch Duke Maxyenko, Shit Talk Extraordinaire > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:42

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Just floor it and jump the clif Dukes of Hazard stlye. Best case: you make it. Worse case: Thelma and Louise that ending.

pdthedeuce > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:43

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if you were braking at absolute maximum capacity , turning would result in a longer stop because you would be using some of your braking traction for turning traction , as demonstrated by the traction circle.

http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/traction_circl…

ddavidn > deekster_caddy 10/11/2013 at 17:46

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This was exactly my lazy thought as well..

48 Spoons > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:47

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No. When driving you at most have 100% tire grip. And it can be distributed between 3 things, acceleration, braking and turning. Meaning that any combination of those three must add up to 100% grip. So if you are braking at max, what I'd assume to get the best stopping distance, any turning will take away grip from braking and there for not help. This is made with the assumption that you cannot turn to avoid the wall when slow enough.

MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:53

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Only one way to know for sure!

Brian, The Life of > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 17:57

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If a vertical cliff suddenly appeared in front of you, it probably not a cliff at all but rather a flashback from that one time you dropped some bad acid in college. Occam's Razor and all that.

SteyrTMP > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 19:20

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Very interesting question. Someone with a higher degree in physics than me may be able to answer this: If you handbrake sideways, while you no longer have complete control of the vehicle, you've now changed your patch of contact from four wide, thin patches, to four narrow, long patches, correct? Does it remain the same amount of stopping power, or does it change?

I know that if you lose brakes, scrubbing off speed sideways does work, to an extent:

And no, that's not me. I do know him, though.

Atomic Buffalo > Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. 10/11/2013 at 20:40

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Are you on a road you can't leave?

If you're just on a wide flat expanse of driving surface like a dry lake, the answer depends on the vehicle's turning performance relative to its braking performance.

Is there a vehicle for which there is a speed at which its minimum turning radius is smaller than its minimum stopping distance?