Fatal impact – the physics of speeding cars
Useful Sites
Stopping distance (Safe Drive Training, Australia)
Looks at the four components that make up the total stopping distance of a vehicle and includes data showing the comparative stopping distances at different speeds.
Travelling speed and the risk of crash involvement (Road Accident Research Unit, University of Adelaide, Australia)
Executive summary
A three-page summary of the study into the effect of travelling speed on the risk of crash involvement at urban speed limits.
Contents
A table of contents of all the results of the study and related discussion.
Travelling speed and the risk of crash involvement on rural roads (Centre for Automotive Safety Research, University of Adelaide)
A 2001 report from the University of Adelaide and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau showing that the risk of involvement in a casualty crash increased more than exponentially as speed increased above the mean traffic speed.
Devices to help drivers control their speed (Michael Paine, Vehicle Design and Research, Australia)
Presents the arguments for speed control devices for vehicles by showing that the number of serious accidents increases as the speed of cars increases. Speed and crashes on the same website presents data showing that serious accidents increase as the speed of a car increases.
Three kinds of friction (Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, USA)
Describes rolling friction, starting friction and sliding friction and shows how they relate to a car on ice.
National Institute for Advance Transportation Technology (University of Idaho, USA)
A series of topics relating to aspects of safety on the roads.
Brake reaction time
Braking distance
Stopping sight distance
Decision sight distance
Passing sight distance
Physics of Racing Series (Brian Beckman, USA)
Weight transfer
Explains how inertia and supporting forces give rise to weight transfer through Newton's laws.
Braking
Looks at braking in terms of energy conversion (energy of motion into energy of heat of the brakes as well as the interaction between the tyres and the ground).
Can speeding be justified? (University of Western Sydney, Australia)
Discusses community attitudes to speeding and excuses often given for speeding.
Page updated February 2006.