SAFE-DRIVING TIPS WHEN IT IS RAINING!



GOOD VISION IN A DOWNPOUR

How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy downpour. We are not sure why it is so effective; just try this method when it rains heavily. This method was told by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it. It is useful...even driving at night.

Most of the motorists would turn on HIGH or FASTEST SPEED of the wipers during heavy downpour, yet the visibility in front of the windshield is still bad.......
In the event you face such a situation, just put on your SUNGLASSES (any model will do), and miracles! All of a sudden, your visibility in front of your windshield is perfectly clear, as if there is no rain..

Make sure you always have a pair of SUNGLASSES in your car. You are not only helping yourself to drive safely with good vision, but also might save your friend's life by giving him this idea.. Try it yourself and share it with your friends!!!!

Amazingly, you still see the drops on the windshield, but not the sheet of rain falling. You can see where the rain bounces off the road. It works to eliminate the "blindness" from passing cars. Or the "kickup" if you are following a car in the rain..
They ought to teach this little tip in driver's training.. It really does work. This is a good warning. I wonder how many people knew about this???


Another good tip:

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago. It was raining, though not excessively when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence! When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened, he told her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON.


She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain...

But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on, your car will begin to hydro-plane when the tyres lose contact with the road, and your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an aeroplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred. The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USETHE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE ROAD IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the road is dry.

The only person the accident victim found who knew this, (besides the patrolman), was a man who'd had a similar accident, totalled his car and sustained severe injuries.

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on. Even if you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about it, it's still worth it. You may have saved a life.

This info has been circulating around the Internet for some years.

The sunglasses advice only applies to polarised glasses but the cruise control advice looks valid.

Check them both out at:-

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/sunglasses.asp

Fortunately driving in the rain in Spain is a rare occurrence!

Do they have cruise control here

The anecdote about the highway patrol man and cruise control is an urban myth which has been circulating for some years. In fact cruise control would reduce the cars speed, not attempt to increase it, in the circumstances described. Having said that there is a valid point in that extra concentration is required in the wet, and use of cruise control could reduce a drivers level of concentration. However I use my cruise control in the wet sometimes on the motorway, and will continue to do so.

my safe driving tip when wet in Spain is to stay as far away from a spanish driver as you can, they regularly skid here when wet, due to slippy roads

Good advice! Because they don't often encounter really slippy roads (ice for example), the average spanish driver doesn't slow down enough in bad conditions.

Did you read the link I posted - it suggests that it is not a myth at all.

Yes. (I do, anyway!)

A45 S-bound, Casabermeja-Malaga, 1st rain after a dry spell, you can pretty much guarantee. And I mean guarantee. One, two, three, sometimes even four vehicles in the crash barrier either central reservation or off the edge. Rain after dry and I become distinctly cautious.
Interesting about what cruise control chooses if the tyres lose contact with the road though....???

Why not? I have it on my 11 year old Seat!

Useful in radar controlled tunnels!

Yes I read it but I disagree.

Maybe you didnt read THIS then

Turn off the cruise control: Wet roads can cause wheels to spin and lose control. The only way to stop wheels from spinning and maintain control is to immediately reduce power. An activated cruise control system applies continuous power, keeping the wheels spinning. By the time you disengage the cruise control it may be too late – you may have already lost control.
The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is a provincial Crown corporation established in 1973 to provide universal auto insurance to B.C. motorists.

We're also responsible for driver licensing, and vehicle licensing and registration.

Yes, I read that but also read lots of other things which contradict it.

Heh heh ... OK, but its advice given by the official authorities over there so you have to guess that they wouldnt put it up there if there wasnt some truth to it

Normally I never argue with the resident founts of all wisdom on this forum but this time I can't resist it............................

The original post contained the advice "never drive in the rain with your cruise control on....." To suggest (as this does) that you should turn off your cruise control the moment a drop of rain hits your windscreen is an hysterical over - reaction (you know what they say - never let the facts stand in the way of a good story...). In over 45 years of motoring I have never aquaplaned. In normal conditions, including rain, on a normal road surface with good tyres, the risk of aquaplaning is zero.

Define 'normal', 'rain', 'normal' (again), 'good' and 'aquaplaning'........ ??