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KC Hill
Craig Hill
Oracle of DelphiDriving Tips for Wet Weather
June 6th 2006 00:06
With the glorious downpour that Sydney is now receiving I thought I should write up an article on safety tips for driving on wet roads. Essentially, wet roads are dangerous because they reduce the amount of friction between your car's wheels and the road, which means that you can slip and slide around the road a bit more.
Now the only contact between your car and the road is your tyres. In my opinion this is one of the most overlooked safety aspects of the car. The only thing holding you to the ground are these 4 sets of rubber, so looking after them is a must.
1. First of all, you should make sure your tyres are road legal, this includes even tyre wear and tread depth. Tyres that aren't road legal do not grip as much, and will cause your car to lose control more easily
2. Keep your tyres well inflated! I cannot stress this enough. Tyres that are underinflated are very dangerous and can cause the whole tyre to rip off the car under heavy braking instances. Personally I recommend overinflating as opposed to underinflating (if you had to choose). The recommended pressures can be found on the sidewall of a door on your car. I would advise a few PSI over those numbers.
3. Rotate your tyres every service. Each service is at 10,000kms, this is a good time to rotate your tyres. You can even ask your mechanic to do this for you. The benefits of this is that it makes your rear tyres wear as much as your front, your left tyres wear as much as your right. Effectively giving you greater life of the tyres and saving you money
Moving on to general driving tips in the wet weather:
Drive Slow[er] – that you normally would. When there is rain, the water mixes with the grime and oils that are present on the road and make the roads more slippery. This is especially true is there is a light drizzle or it has just started raining.
Give more Distance – between the car in front of you and yourself. Loosely speaking brakes work less effectively in the wet and it takes a longer time and distance for you to slow down to a stop. Likewise for the car in front of you.
Recovering from a Slide – if your car does unfortunately lose control and you find yourself sliding around a corner, do not just slam the brakes! This is the most common mistake and you more likely than not will find yourself in an accident. Your best bet is to apply light pressure to the brakes, increasing it slowly. All this while turning into the slide.
Lights ON – Usually when it is raining it is rather dark, you should turn your headlights on to let cars around you see you better. If you have foglights you should leave them off. Foglights are designed to shine at the ground, as a result, the light reflects off the water and makes it harder for other drivers around you to drive.
Drive Safe!
(Photo:Michelin)
1. First of all, you should make sure your tyres are road legal, this includes even tyre wear and tread depth. Tyres that aren't road legal do not grip as much, and will cause your car to lose control more easily
2. Keep your tyres well inflated! I cannot stress this enough. Tyres that are underinflated are very dangerous and can cause the whole tyre to rip off the car under heavy braking instances. Personally I recommend overinflating as opposed to underinflating (if you had to choose). The recommended pressures can be found on the sidewall of a door on your car. I would advise a few PSI over those numbers.
3. Rotate your tyres every service. Each service is at 10,000kms, this is a good time to rotate your tyres. You can even ask your mechanic to do this for you. The benefits of this is that it makes your rear tyres wear as much as your front, your left tyres wear as much as your right. Effectively giving you greater life of the tyres and saving you money
Moving on to general driving tips in the wet weather:
Drive Slow[er] – that you normally would. When there is rain, the water mixes with the grime and oils that are present on the road and make the roads more slippery. This is especially true is there is a light drizzle or it has just started raining.
Give more Distance – between the car in front of you and yourself. Loosely speaking brakes work less effectively in the wet and it takes a longer time and distance for you to slow down to a stop. Likewise for the car in front of you.
Recovering from a Slide – if your car does unfortunately lose control and you find yourself sliding around a corner, do not just slam the brakes! This is the most common mistake and you more likely than not will find yourself in an accident. Your best bet is to apply light pressure to the brakes, increasing it slowly. All this while turning into the slide.
Lights ON – Usually when it is raining it is rather dark, you should turn your headlights on to let cars around you see you better. If you have foglights you should leave them off. Foglights are designed to shine at the ground, as a result, the light reflects off the water and makes it harder for other drivers around you to drive.
(Photo: GM.com)
Drive Safe!
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