Brake enhancer for emergency stopping

Why a treadmill? why not just a big block of gumball rubber?

With a strong factor for coefficient of friction. In theory a big hunk of gumball could have a much higher coefficient of friction. In practice it won't, it will have lots of road dirt, oil, water, etc thrown up on it when not in use, so it will hurt. Plus it will add weight to the vehicle all the time, adding mass that must be slowed down. And hurting things like ride quality, gas mileage, etc.

either of these recover energy. They still rely on friction of tire to road, so they can't do more than brakes can. They are just different brakes, capturing some energy rather than throwing it all away as heat.

Pat

The phrase you are looking for is maintain proper control of the vehicle at all time.

There are a couple of additional points to be made. I'm in agreement with much of what you write, and addressing my comments to the OP.

First, passenger car tires are not optimized for road gripping. Other factors, such as service life under non-optimal conditions -- road surface, temperature, inflation pressure -- take precedence. For example, most (but not all) DOT legal tires sacrifice dry road grip for all weather serviceability. IOW, they are designed to minimum traction requirements rather than maximum. At the other extreme, racing tires have fewer such limitations or aspirations. Even there, traction is finite. At any given finite grip level, it is possible to require more road gripping than is available, which is the fundamental problem to solve in racing. Inertia is an immutable (apparently) law of physics, and physics (or Newtonian kinematics at least) still apply.

Second, no amount of after-the-fact wishing will clear the anti-freeze or diesel oil from under your tires. Too fast for conditions is simply that: too fast for conditions. Until the anti-gravity/anti-inertia machine is ready for everyday use, you'll have to rely on something else. The only truly safe speed is zero; anything above that carries some foreseeable risk and thus requires mature assessment and mitigation.

Without squashing the well-intentioned thoughts, you need to get outside the box, to over-use that tired and tiresome phrase. The problem to be solved is not how to temporarily improve grip, but to obviate or at least minimize the need.

Even zero requires mature assessment and mitigation. Park in the middle of an unlighted Interstate late night in heavy fog and turn your lights off and it won't be too long before something moving too fast for the conditions finds you.

Street tires have many differences from racing tires. Street tires trade absolute grip for a lot of warning. They make noise and start to slip (increasing slip angles for one) while still providing a large portion of their grip. This allows normal drivers to detect that they are pushing it, and back off. Racing tires maintain full grip as long as possible. Then they lose it all at once. Unless you are trained and experienced at this, and paying 100% attention, the sudden loss of grip at the end is startling.

The key is that this OP's fundamental idea is not very realistic.

Lacking an antigravity machine, or at least control of inertia, there are other issues. For example, a rocket engine generating 80,000 pounds of thrust for .07 second will stop a 2000 pound vehicle moving 60 mph in 3 feet (all numbers approximate), killing all the occupants in the process.

That's called a "sander". Locomotives have had them for a century.

John Nagle

Sorry for the double-quote, but I somehow missed the original post. But just for the record, yes, I am absolutely positive you are a crackpot. I give you another year or two before you start blaming your failure to bypass the laws of physics on a government conspiracy to persecute you personally and cover up the alien flying saucers that would prove you right. Around the same time, you'll start CAPITALIZING your TEXT in random PLACES to add EMPHASIS and thereby demonstrate all the CLASSIC symptoms of the net.kook.

,------------------------------------------------------------------. | Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: | | snipped-for-privacy@strout.net

| `------------------------------------------------------------------'

Yes, inertia is not your friend here. Alas, I haven't attained true masslessness yet. My thinking obviously remains rooted (!) in our Newtonian reality.

You've gotta think outside the box.

One word. Rockets.

Just imagine. Your cruising down the street at an unsafe speed, made unsafer still by the dark of night and an illegal amount of alcohol in your system. Then, without warning, little Susie jumps out from behind a parked car chasing her little red ball! "Who the hell plays with little red balls anymore?" you think as you slam on your breaks, but it's too late...or is it? Fortunately for little Susie, your safety conscious wife talked you into spending a little extra on the new Rocket Actuated Breaking In Emergencies System. Within milliseconds, a thousand pounds of thrust shoot forward from emergency rocket thrusters, previously concealed under your headlights, bringing your car to a screeching halt. You didn't flatten little Susie, it's a miracle! Of course, she now has burns over ninety-percent of her body, and the force from the blast gave you a concussion so bad you'll be a coma for the next 6 months, but hey, you're both still alive! Isn't technology wonderful? Just remember, you can't bake a cake without breaking a few eggs.

Now go, and invent the world into a safer tomorrow!

Chris

Minor nit--that's less than half a g on most cars--conventional brakes can do better.

Have you tried Wiley Coyote?

| -]

Dale

Now there's a thought--a device that paints a tunnel in whatever you're about to hit so that you can drive through the tunnel .

Of course we should do everything reasonable to prevent an accident in the first place. But that is not always possible. I don't think you would argue for the elimination of seatbelts and airbags. Safety systems need to be designed with multiple layers.

Yes, this is a very good point. If the aft-looking radar detects a vehicle approaching too fast from the rear, it could turn on a pair of narrow beam strobe lights bright enough to penetrate the fog/rain. A pair is necessary to give the approaching driver enough perspective to judge distance, and a pulsing strobe grabs attention better.

If that fails, then I think your suggestion of pulling off the road completely is a good idea. That will require the computer to monitor the condition of the shoulder, but that shouldn't be too difficult, since it will already be monitoring adjacent lanes.

The problem is whether it can detect a deep ditch that would result in a rollover, or an obstacle covered by tall grass, or very soft mud, or for that matter high water.

Jeez, the quality of this group is really going downhill. Everyone knows that the tunnel, once painted, only works for RoadRunner himself. Once you (Wiley) attempt to pass, you smack into said object. Come on - do some research and get your facts straight! :-)

-Brian

Isn't that just the Acme brand paint that does once through thingie, right?

Come to think of it, there's probably an Acme Brake Enhancer you could order. It too would depend on who was trying to use the brakes. ;)

Seriously, though...

It's just good old Chlorox (bleach).

The dragsters used to spin out in the "bleach box" to warm their tires, and the bleach both cleaned and softened the rubber surface. I've heard you can use bleach to get more traction on ice as well.