At 60 mph in ideal conditions, the Oregon handbook says the total distance from when you recognize a hazard to when your vehicle stops is approximately what?
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A.
About 50 feet.
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B.
More than 300 feet. Correct
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C.
About one car length per 10 mph.
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D.
About 100 feet.
The answer is "More than 300 feet."
At 60 mph, the distance from the point you recognize a hazard and apply the brakes to where your vehicle stops is greater than the length of a football field, which is over 300 feet. The exact stopping distance depends on road and weather conditions, vehicle weight, reaction time, and brake quality, but the football-field benchmark is the handbook's shorthand for how much room you actually need at highway speeds.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. About 50 feet.
50 feet is far too short at 60 mph; that is closer to reaction distance alone, not total stopping distance. Misreading: Confuses reaction-distance-only with the full hazard-recognition-to-stop distance the manual describes.
C. About one car length per 10 mph.
The car-length-per-10-mph heuristic is a different rule of thumb, not the handbook's stopping-distance benchmark. Misreading: Substitutes an unrelated following-distance rule of thumb for the manual's football-field stopping-distance benchmark.
D. About 100 feet.
100 feet at 60 mph is far short of total stopping distance from hazard recognition to stop. Misreading: Underestimates total stopping distance by a factor of three relative to the manual's football-field benchmark.
This question tests your knowledge of Defensive Driving in Oregon. Source: Oregon Driver Manual, "Stopping Distances," p.29..
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