To obtain reliable new data for the analysis of agricultural vehicle accidents, the engineering office Schal and Meyer has initiated in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences Lübeck a thesis, in which the braking deceleration and the starting acceleration were determined experimentally in practical traffic situations.
With in total 20 agricultural machines (17 farm tractors and 3 combines), tilt-angle compensated measurements of braking deceleration were carried out. Furthermore records of acceleration in a straight line and when turning left and right were made. Special attention was focused on the development in time of these movements.
For modern tractors, mean decelerations from 6.5m/s2 on asphalt were found. The mean combine deceleration was only 4.1m/s2. The mean lag time (time between starting to depress the pedal and the first skid mark) for tractors was about 0.41 s. Regardless of the length of the test distance, the mean acceleration of tractors was about 1.1m/s2.