Highway Code Expects Too Much
Page 48
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
EFFORTS arc being made by the Lai Passenger Vehicle Operators Association to secure the amendmentof that part of the Highway Code which purports to show what proper brakes will do."
The Code includes a schedule of stopping distances for vehicles under certain road conditions at different speeds, these distances being based on what brake manufacturers would describe as 70 per cent. efficiency.
A memorandumissued by . P.V.O.A, states that the only inference to bedrawn from the Code is that If
a vehicle cannot pull up from a certain speed in the distance shown, the brakes are inadequate. The brake makers. however, class 40 per cent, braking efficiency as fair, 50 per cent. as good, 60 per cent. as very good, and 70 per cent, as excellent. Only when braking efficiency falls below 40 per cent. do manufacturers regard it as dangerous in an emergency.
The P.V.O.A. feels that 70 per cent. efficiency cannot normally be maintained at all times—if it can be obtained at all—and that the Highway Code 'schedule should be laid out differently.