Stopping Distances

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps as quickly as you can. You only have 2 minutes. Press "Check" to check your answers when you have finished.
In this activity we will be looking at stopping distances for cars and lorries.

First see what the highway code says about stopping distances.
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The table says an average car length is 4m. Is this correct? Here are the lengths of 10 cars. Find the mean length and the median length.
Ford Fiesta 3950mm
Ford Focus 4358mm
Fiat Bravo 4336mm
Renault Megane 4295mm
Vauxhall Astra 4419mm
Volkswagon Golf 4225mm
Skoda Rapid 4483mm
Smart Forfour 3495mm
Rover Streetwise 3980mm
Rolls Royce Silver Shaddow 5181mm

Mean= mm
Median= mm

Bonus Question. Can you match the names of the cars to the pictures?
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Do you think the Highway Code is right to say the average length of a car is 4m? Yes or no?
If the Rolls Royce was removed from the sample what difference would it make to the averages?
Mean= mm
Median = mm
1m=39.37 inches. 12 inches =1 foot. How long is 4m in feet? Round your answer to 1 decimal place.
feet
Is the Highway Code correct to say 4m =13 feet? Yes or no?
Look at the graph from the Highway Code.
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Stopping distance = thinking distance (blue) + braking distance (red).
What is the stopping distance at 20mph. m
How many car lengths is this?
Measure 12 m in the room or corridor to see how long this is. It is about the same length as a bus.
What is the stopping distance at 30mph? m
How many bus lengths is this approximately?
How many car lengths is this?

What is the total stopping distance at 40mph? m
How many car lengths is this? car lengths
How much longer is this than the stopping distance at 20mph? times
What is the stopping distance at 70mph? metres
How many car lengths is this? car lengths
How many bus lengths?
How much further is this than at 20mph? times
Traffic Jam
So the stopping distance at 70mph is 24 car lengths. Can you count 24 cars back in the traffic jam to see how far this is?
Fill in the table
Speed mphThinking Distance mBraking Distance mStopping Distance mCar Lengths
2066
30914
401224
501538
601855
702175


This graph is from the Department of Transport 2013 Reported road casualties Great Britain

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How many casualties were there altogether in 2013?
Fill in the table to find the percentages of each type of casualty. Round the percentages to one decimal place.

Type of FatalityNumberPercentage
Car
Pedestrian
Motor Cyclist
Cyclist
Other
Total100

(If you rounded your percentages correctly the total does not add up to 100% exactly- but it is very close so this does not matter)
Which types of fatality increased between 2012 and 2013? and

This bar chart compares the stopping distances of cars, buses and lorries.
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If a lorry is travelling at 60mph what is its stopping distance?
feet
How many metres is that? (Give your answer to the nearest metre.)m .
Which of these is this the same as?
A. The length of the Men's Olympic hurdles race.
B. The length of 3 buses.
C. The length of 20 cars.
D. The width of a football pitch.
Write A, B, C or D

(If you chose D you were very close. A football pitch should be between 45 and 90m wide. So a lorry would need more than the width of a full sized football pitch to stop at 60mph.
How much greater is the stopping distance at 60mph for a lorry compared to a car?
feet
This is about the same as a stopping distance for a bus at mph.
When you are driving keep to the speed limits!
Don’t let this happen to you. Crash
For more information about road safety see the Brake website.