How long is 2 seconds??
A couple of weeks ago today we travelled north of Brisbane for about an hour or more with our nephew, Graeme, to visit our niece, Karen and her partner, Mick. I forget the name of the place but address Paddington to 'Heaven' and I am sure he would get to visit Karen too. It is warm, the smell of gum trees fills the air, the birds are colourful, it is not over cultivated and WARM, oh my it was wonderfully warm!
Returning I saw a sign by the road asking cars to keep 2 chevrons apart. On the road were painted big white chevrons, (inverted Vs).
In doing this there was room between each car for another car to enter the lane easily, it surprised me that the cars were asked to travel so far apart and I mentioned this to Graeme. he just said. "It's 2 seconds." I was amazed.
If that distance apart is 2 seconds then I think we very seldom do it and would not know how to judge it if we wanted to.
I am aware that the law requires that we be able to stop within HALF the clear distance ahead of us and remind myself of that when I am out and about at times. To say that the car ahead stopped suddenly is not a defence if we hit it because we have to be able to stop within half of the clear distance ahead. I try to practise this.
But then to see by the road markings the distance that is 2 seconds shocked me as it is quite a space. I have seen such markings only the once but I think it should be practised much more as it is a very practical way to demonstrate how long 2 seconds is.
Returning I saw a sign by the road asking cars to keep 2 chevrons apart. On the road were painted big white chevrons, (inverted Vs).
In doing this there was room between each car for another car to enter the lane easily, it surprised me that the cars were asked to travel so far apart and I mentioned this to Graeme. he just said. "It's 2 seconds." I was amazed.
If that distance apart is 2 seconds then I think we very seldom do it and would not know how to judge it if we wanted to.
I am aware that the law requires that we be able to stop within HALF the clear distance ahead of us and remind myself of that when I am out and about at times. To say that the car ahead stopped suddenly is not a defence if we hit it because we have to be able to stop within half of the clear distance ahead. I try to practise this.
But then to see by the road markings the distance that is 2 seconds shocked me as it is quite a space. I have seen such markings only the once but I think it should be practised much more as it is a very practical way to demonstrate how long 2 seconds is.
Labels: 2 seconds
posted by ElizabethB | 4:54 PM
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