Wet pavement contributes to nearly 1.2 million traffic crashes each year. When visibility is limited by wet weather, it's important that your car itself doesn't impede your sight. Safety starts before you drive, and your goal should be to see and be seen.
Check Your Vehicle
Once a month, clean the outsides and insides of windshields and windows, and check your windshield wiper blades for wear. Check the level of your washer fluid once a week. Do a quick check of headlights, taillights, turn signals and tire treads before driving the car for the first time each day. Rain or no rain, operating without signal lights, you're a hazard—and it's a ticketable offense. Proper tire tread depth and inflation areimperative to maintaining good traction on wet roadways. Check tread depth with a quarter inserted upside down into the tire groove. If you can see above Washington's head, start shopping for new tires. Check each tire's pressure, including the spare, and be sure to check the pressure when the tires are cold.
Avoid Cruise Control
This feature works great in dry conditions, but when used in wet conditions, the chance of losing control of the vehicle can increase. The driver may need to reduce the car's speed which cannot be accomplished when cruise control is engaged. it is important to concentrate fully on every aspect of driving. Avoiding cruise control will allow the driver more options to choose from when responding to a potential loss-of-traction situation.
Slow Down and Leave Room
Slowing down during wet weather driving can be critical to reducing a car's chance of hydroplaning, when the tires rise up on a film of water. With as little as 1/12 inch of water on the road, tires have to displace a gallon of water per second to keep the rubber meeting the road. Drivers should reduce their speed to correspond to the amount of water on the roadway. At speeds as low as 35 mph, new tires can still lose some contact with the roadway.To reduce chances of hydroplaning, drivers should slow down, avoid hard braking or turning sharply and drive in the tracks of the vehicle ahead of you. Also, it's important for motorists to allow ample stopping distance between cars by increasing the following distance of the vehicle in front of them and beginning to slow down to stop for intersections, turns and other traffic early.
Responding to a Skid
Even careful drivers can experience skids. If a driver feels their car begin to skid, it's important to not panic and follow these basic steps:
•Continue to look and steer in the direction in which the driver wants the car to go.
•Avoid slamming on the brakes as this will further upset the vehicle's balance and make it harder to control.
If you feel the vehicle begin to skid, continue tolook and steer in the direction you want the car to go. Stay calm and avoid slamming on the brakes to maintain control.
Be Extra Cautious
Overall be extra cautious in wet weather. Slow down, avoid hard braking or turning sharply and allow ample stopping distance between you and the vehicles in front of you. But just as you would stay off the roads in heavy snow, it's OK to stay home in heavy rain. If you have a small business in a flood-prone area and there's lots of recipitation on the way, try to make arrangements for employees to work from home so they don't have to worry about making the commute on potentially flooded roads.
For more traffic safety information visit the Our Driving Concern: Texas Employer Traffic Safety Program website at:
Txdrivingconcern.org or For more tips on driving in heavy rain and other extreme weather, check out the National Safety Council's defensive driving courses.
