Whether driving a car or riding a bike, I always like to give myself more stopping distance when approaching a stop sign or stop light, especially when riding on wet pavement. The cyclist just got caught by a mechanical failure, I'm sure that he will regularly inspect his brake cable from now on. Tough enough making a panic stop on dry pavement, as I found out when a pedestrian blatantly stepped out in front of me while I was traveling a 25 -30 mph.