reverse-gear stopping?

[Phil Rose <pjrose@servtech.com>]

>Date: Fri, 16 Jan 1998 23:50:22 -0500
>From: Brett Dikeman <brett@arthur.malebolge.com>
>Subject: snowplows, Hellas, front bumpers, and hoods.
>
>Do not mix.
>
>Back country road, Dad's driving my car home from work...idiot in
>snowplow(the landscaping guys) comes flying out of a driveway about 20-30
>feet in front of the car.
>
>By throwing the truck into reverse very quickly, the guy avoided getting
>himself killed, but the front bumper,

This is not the first time I've seen a mention of "throwing into reverse"
to aid in emergency stopping. What gives here? In an all-out panic
situation, with normal braking capability, is there usually a
stopping-distance advantage expected by putting the transmission into
reverse? Obviously it's as hard as the dickens on the tranny (if it
survives), but if it works, I suppose a dropped tranny might be preferrable
to the collision damage.

Phil Rose		Rochester, NY
'89 100			pjrose@servtech.com