Yes. But because I was following at a safe distance from the car in front, that gave me adequate time to slow down and stop without hitting the stopped car.

Safe following distance isn't predicated on defying physics, it means assume the car in front might stop dead for any reason - hitting an unseen obstacle, swerving to reveal an obstacle, sudden mechanical failure, animal collision, whatever. The distance you need to react and stop is around 100 metres at 70mph. Therefore, that's the distance you should keep from the car in front.

As a bonus, it gives any tailgaters more time to notice you're slowing down too. Hopefully this means you're less likely to get pancaked between two cars.