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Rain • Rain has been known to cause thousands of car accidents each year, sometimes resulting in wrongful deaths or serious injuries. so we believe it is important for drivers to understand exactly how rain may cause car accidents, and we would like to share some tips for preventing car accidents. • we know that an asphalt road is much more slippery when it first gets wet, due to oil coming to the surface of the road. But how many drivers know and understand this? This is something that needs to change.
How Rain can cause car accident 1. Decreased Visibility 2. Diminished Traction 3. Conduct of Other Drivers
Decreased Visibility During rain storms, it can be difficult for drivers to see other cars. When rain is combined with dirty water thrown up from the road by other drivers, windshields can quickly become dirty.
Diminished Traction Rain can make it more difficult to stay on a roadway, to stop, or to avoid colliding with other vehicles. This is especially true when it first starts raining, because accumulated oils will rise to the road surface and cause the road to become especially slippery.
Conduct of Other Drivers In bad weather conditions, there are two types of drivers who can significantly increase the risk to others. • An excessively timid driver will overestimate the danger of the weather conditions, and will drive at an unreasonably low speed. When the weather limits the number of available traffic lanes, such as can happen following heavy rain, this type of driver can cause traffic to back up. On a highway, this may inspire other drivers to try to pass by entering a side lane that is waterlogged, increasing the risk of an auto accident. • A reckless driver will completely ignore the consequences of weather, or may even think it is a good thing that the weather has forced a lot of other drivers off of the road. This reckless maniac may well drive at full highway speed or greater, even when visibility is low or the roads are covered with slush and ice. Often this driver will be in a four wheel drive automobile, and will assume that 4WD somehow makes it impossible for a car to skid. When a sudden emergency arises, or they lose control on a slippery road, their high speed makes it much more likely for a car accident to occur.
How Prevent accident 1. Drive slower. • This may seem like an obvious tip, but it is a very important one. Rainwater causes the grease and oil, that have built up on the road, to surface. This causes tires to lose traction on the road. If you driving slower, this increases your chances for better tire traction. The other point that most people miss is that driver perception is decreased, so driving slower allows for better reaction times. 2. Keep your eyes on the car ahead of you. • In the rain, it’s often hard to see very far ahead of you. On a clear sunny day, you can see the traffic situation a couple hundred feet down the road and react accordingly. On a rainy day, what you often have to rely on is the reaction of the driver ahead of you. When he brakes, you brake. You would, however, want to keep a certain distance from the car in front, because braking happens more slowly on a slippery road. That is why you should stay as far from the driver in front as possible but also close enough to keep him in clear sight.
How Prevent accident 3. Do not make sudden brakes. • Sudden braking may cause a skid. Since the roads are slippery, stopping the wheels too quickly may cause them to lose all traction with the road, and therefore likely cause a cara ccident. Skidding is extremely dangerous, as the driver loses control of the car, and an imminent car accident becomes a distinct possibility. In the case that skidding occurs, however, remain calm and do not make sudden turns. Sudden turning may turn the skidding even more dangerous. Just slow down and try steering straight until you feel the car regain traction. 4. Defog the windows. • As it rains, the windows on a car start to fog up, and that further limits driver perception. Some drivers may think that the car is cold because of the rain, and therefore turn on the heater. The truth is that only further fogs up the windows. To defog, keep your air conditioning blowing at both your windshield and your back window. If your car has a defog function, just press the button, and defogging should start automatically.
How Prevent accident 5. Try to stay out of the water. • Most roads are built so that the middle of the road is higher than the sides, so try staying near the middle where it would be less likely to have a buildup of rainwater. And no automobiles have the capability of SUVs presented in commercials, driving through the ocean floor and having a firm grip in tire deep water. Stay away from pools of water and, in case you do go through one, tap the brake pedal lightly to dry the tire off a little. • Ideally, all rainy car accidents could be prevented if people stopped driving when it rains, but that is an unrealistic assumption. Everyone has things they must attend to, so just keep these tips in mind when driving in the rain. In case it is raining too hard, and you cannot see more than a few feet in front of you, pull over to the side and wait the rain out. It is too dangerous. so just wait the rain out. Nothing can compare in importance to the safety of each car driver on the road.
