Wet Roads Are a Warning to Slow Down

1. Wet Roads Are a Warning to Slow Down It can be very difficult to work on some traffic accident cases involving serious injuries or deaths resulting from careless behavior. These sorts of cases are a constant reminder that bad things don’t have to happen, yet they still do because people make bad choices. Something as simple as not slowing down when the roads are wet can lead to a serious accident. How many of us associate wet roads with an increase in accidents? How many of us slow down even in a light rain? A recent study from the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies suggests we all ought to give more serious consideration to how we drive when it rains. According to the study, most drivers slow down in heavy rains. The same is not true during light rain events. And yet, even light rain leads to higher incidence of traffic accidents. There are more car and truck crashes during light rain than there are when pavement is dry. Falling Rain Means More Accidents It is worth looking at numbers from the study in more detail. For example, the likelihood of fatal traffic accidents goes up by 34% during all precipitation events. But even during what is considered light rain, traffic fatalities increase by 27%. You are almost one-third more likely to be involved in a fatal car crash during light rain than you are when there is no precipitation falling. That’s something to think about. What constitutes a light rain? Well, study author Scott Stevens put it this way: “We’re talking a drizzle, just at the point where you might consider taking an umbrella out.”

2. Stevens went on to explain in an Associated Press interview that the study suggests people don’t take the risk of light rain seriously. All of what that implies is rather scary when you’re traveling down the interstate at 65 mph while others cars are passing you like you’re standing still. What is already terrifying on dry pavement is almost unbearable when the pavement is wet. Slow Down and Save a Life Please understand that Stevens’ study was not a small-scale study. It accounted for more than 125,000 accidents throughout the United States from 2006 through 2011. It accounted for different weather patterns and, more specifically, known weather events as detailed by radar data analysis. At the end of the day, the lesson is clear: even a light rain increases the likelihood of being involved in a car crash. Our advice to drivers throughout Texas and the rest of the U.S. is to slow down. No matter how important it is to get to your destination, nothing is as important as a human life. You may think you need to get there on time, but a car crash may mean you never get there at all. Never forget that nearly every state in the union requires drivers to drive commensurate with weather conditions. If a person is found to have caused a car crash due to speeds too high for weather conditions, that person faces liability in a court of law. We can tell you from personal experience that liability for a car crash is not an easy thing to bear. Not only does liability come with certain financial obligations, it can also ruin a person’s reputation, result in higher insurance rates, impact employment, and so forth. That says nothing of the emotional toll of having to live with the knowledge that your carelessness killed or injured someone else. Slow down when it rains. You can afford to lose a few minutes of your time. Sources: 1.NCICS– https://ncics.org/cics-news/precipitation-and-fatal-motor-vehicle-crashes/ 2.AP– https://www.apnews.com/11c60ea1f67c4418ae8ce7e8c50ac800