1997 Oldsmobile Achieva Owner's Manual - Page 160

Control of a Vehicle You have three systems that makeyour vehicle go where you want it to go. They are the brakes, the steering and the accelerator. All three systems have to do their work at theplaces where the tiresmeet the road. Braking Braking action involves perception time and reaction time. First, you have to decide topush on the brake pedal. That's perception time. Then you have to bring up your foot and do it.That's reaction time. Average reaction time is about 314 of a second. But that's only anaverage. It might be less with one driver and as long as two or three seconds or more with another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination and eyesight all play a part. So do alcohol, drugs and frustration. But even in 3/4 of a second, a vehicle moving at 60 mph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m). That could be a lotof distance in an emergency, so keeping enough space between your vehicle and others is important. And, of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly with the surfaceof the road (whether it's pavement or gravel); the conditionof the road (wet, dry, icy); tire tread; thecondition of your brakes; the weight of the vehicle and the amount of brake force applied. Sometimes, as when you're driving on snow or ice,it's easy to ask more of those controlsystems than the tires and road can provide. That means you can lose control of your vehicle.