Friday, May 3, 2013

Safety Tips for Driving in the Rain

By Maryl Joop


The rain offers a host of new dangers to the road. Take caution when driving through a rain storm with these safety tips.

Turn on your headlights any time water drizzles from the sky. It doesn't matter if it's a heavy downpour or a light sprinkling on the pavement; flip on your parking lights at a bare minimum.

For one, they help you see the road better (enabling you to miss the more slippery surfaces). For another, you become much more visible to the cars around you.

Just because you can see everyone else, that doesn't mean that they can see you too, especially when the weather is gloomy. Turning on your lights is an incredibly easy step to ensure yours and others' safety on the road.

Drive towards the center of the road as much as possible. Most roads are designed to run water off to the left and right. Water congregates into the gutters on the road's edges, and from there flow down into the drainage system. When you place yourself closer to the center, you avoid the edge of the road, where water is beginning to collect into puddles. Running through the occasional puddle isn't always avoidable. You will likely run through one or more on your way to your destination.

Wet brake pads have less stopping power as the rubber slips more. You can dry your brakes by tapping them along your route. Don't slam on them to dry them. In fact, avoid slamming on your brakes as often as possible in the rain.

Abruptly braking only worsens most rainy situations. Even if you do manage to avoid a tail spin, how well is the car behind you going to be able to stomp on their brakes in time as well?

Either you or they could cause an accident equally well. Continual brake tapping will dry your brakes efficiently enough while not slowing traffic.

Also pumping your brakes will help you stop in extreme need better than stomping on them will. Be careful with your speed and keep proper distances between cars to avoid the need to abruptly stop for anything. In that same vein, don't use cruise control while it's raining. Cruise control cannot adjust to the roads condition as well as you can.

Where you would lift your foot off the gas to go through a puddle safely, cruise control would accelerate through it, increasing your chance of spinning out should you slip. On the braking side, drivers tend to let their car take complete control in all situations, even when they need to be braking soon.

They consequently get to their brakes later than normal, making it harder to stop in time. To avoid the complications of accelerating and braking at the wrong times, don't turn cruise control on. Exercise extreme caution when the rain starts coming down. Turn on your headlights, tap your breaks to dry your brakes and drive in full control to avoid the perils that lie on the road.

Just Insure It encourages drivers to be safe in the rain. Although you may have excellent car insurance in Weston, FL, you don't want to be having to call your insurance company anytime soon to fix your car.

Car insurance in Weston is a wonderful protection for when you need it. There's nothing more annoying than an accident in the rain though to ruin your day.

Keep your days happy and safe. Drive safe when the heavens weep.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment