Question

You’re speeding at 85 km/hr when you notice that you’re only 10 m behind the car in front of you,

Answer 1

Your position in meters will, measured relative to the starting point of the car behind you, be 
x1(t) = 10 + 23.61 t - 1/2 4.2 t^2 
his position will be 
x2(t) = 16.67 t 
Hence at any time the separation s(t) will be 
s(t) = x1(t) - x2(t) = 10 + 6.94 t -2.1 t^2 
Now I assume you mean that you will decelerate UNTIl you are driving at the legal speed limit (60 km/h). That will take you: 
16.67 m/s = 23.61m/s - 4.2 m/s^2 * t 
t = 1.65 seconds 
What is the separation at that time? If it is still greater than zero, there will be no collision: 
s(1.65) = 10 + 6.94 *1.65 -2.1 (1.65)^2 = 15.73 meters. 
Hence you will NOT collide. The 1.65 s you calculated was the time needed to brake to the speed of 60 km/h.