Final answer:
The incorrect guideline for maintaining a safe side cushion to your vehicle is ignoring your surroundings. Being aware is essential for safety on the road, and safety features in vehicles, like airbags, work on the principle of impulse.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question asked is about the guidelines for maintaining a safe "cushion" to the side of your vehicle, which is related to the broader topic of driving safety and the physics principles of impulse and momentum. One guideline for maintaining a safe side cushion that is NOT correct would be ignoring nearby vehicles and your surroundings, as awareness is crucial for safety. Understanding the concept of impulse, we know that in the event of an impact, the force experienced by the car's occupants is reduced when the change in momentum occurs over a longer period of time, which is the principle behind safety features like airbags and crumple zones in cars.
These safety features aim to increase the time over which an impact occurs, thus reducing the force felt by passengers, in accordance with the impulse formula (Fnet = Δp/Δt). Creating a safe cushion around your vehicle means being aware of other cars and maintaining a distance that allows for enough time and space to react and decelerate if necessary, thereby improving the safety of all road users.