by John Tyler

Created on: December 10, 2009

Driving safely in the rain is easy; that is, if you know what potential problems you are looking for and are prepared for the challenge ahead. There are certain things you need to know about the road conditions you may have never thought of. Also, there are a number of relatively inexpensive things you can do to weatherize your vehicle. A few bucks here could save a lot of money if it prevents a car accident, an emergency room visit, or even worse – someone’s untimely death.

Let us first talk about same basic driving strategies when the weather gets wet. Drivers in wet conditions should always look for and do a number of things:

First, turn on your headlights! With one flick of a knob you make yourself more visible to other cars driving and you also give yourself a chance to better see the road. In terms of visibility, you also need to defog your windows to make sure you can see properly. Use the front and rear defrosters and make sure your A/C is turned on.

Second, allow more time for travel. If the roads are wet your tires simply do not grip the road as well. By allowing for more time to travel you can travel at lower speeds and thereby make travel safer for you and those on the road around you. This goes hand-in-hand with making sure that you allow for a proper following distance. Remember the three-second rule, this is extremely important in adverse driving conditions. 

Third, you have to break differently then you normally would. If you use too much force in wet conditions you increase the chance that you will slide and lose control of your vehicle. Anytime you go through a large puddle, you should lightly tap your breaks to dry the rotors incase you do need to break harder.

Speaking of puddles, avoid large bodies of standing water. As cool as all of those SUV and truck commercials look when they go splashing through bodies of water, while traveling at high speeds the impact with the water could send your vehicle completely out of control. A great rule of thumb in avoiding large puddles is to stay towards the center of the road. Most roads in the U.S. peak in the center to cause the water to runoff to the sides. If you avoid the edges of the road you could avoid potentially dangerous hydroplaning situations.

Let’s pretend you hydroplane, what do you do? Don’t panic. Don’t slam on your breaks. Don’t suddenly spin the wheel. Release your gas pedal and steer easily to keep the vehicle straight. If you must break, break

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