Friday 31 July 2020

homework and exercises - Maximum angle for highway lane change


I am preparing to fight a traffic ticket from a speed camera. There is a lot more to that story, but the info I need right now involves the angle at which a car can change lanes, in terms of vehicle angle relative to the direction of traffic flow. I have a 2009 VW Golf Kombi (this is the Jetta Sportwagen in the US). In my case, the relevant speed is 90 km/h, but I'm also interested in learning how to calculate this for any speed.


For example, I believe my vehicle has a steering ratio of approximately 16:1. Thus, if I turned the wheel 16 degrees, I would only deviate from my original lane by 1 degree. That would get me to the other lane eventually, but it is likely to be quite leisurely. On the other hand, if I turned too fast I would likely lose traction.


I know the actual maximum is dependent on many factors (tires, weather, etc). So my question is what type of angles can I expect to achieve in a car similar to mine? And, on a perfect day, with the best tires, what is the highest angle I could achieve without crashing?




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