Driving in the rain . .This may save your life

[Tucker's Mom]

I've heard about the cruise control but not the sun glasses.

This is worth knowing!

GOOD VISION IN A DOWNPOUR

How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy downpour.

We are not sure why it is so effective; just try this method when it rains heavily. This method was told by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it. It is useful.....even driving at night.

Most of the motorists would turn on HIGH or FASTEST SPEED of the wipers during heavy downpour, yet the visibility in front of the windshield is still bad.......

In the event you face such a situation, just try your SUN GLASSES (any model will do), and miracle! All of a sudden, your visibility in front of your windshield is perfectly clear, as if there is no rain.

Make sure you always have a pair of SUN GLASSES in your car, as you are not only helping yourself to drive safely with good vision, but also might save your friend's life by giving him this idea..

Try it yourself and share it with your friends! Amazing, you still see the drops on the windshield, but not the sheet of rain falling.

You can see where the rain bounces off the road. It works to eliminate the "blindness" from passing semi's spraying you too.

Or the "kickup" if you are following a semi or car in the rain. They ought to teach that little tip in driver's training. It really does work....

This warning is a good one! I wonder how many people know about this~

A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore , Texas she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!

When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should know - NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON . She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain. But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.

The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USETHE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.

The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries.

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on. If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it.. You might have saved a life.

[WJN Firearms]

I learned about this many years ago and it does work quite well. I was driving on the Ohio Turnpike when a real downpour started. You couldn't see worth squat. I had my CB on and a trucker came on and told everyone to put on their sunglasses so they could see. I tried it and voila! What a difference.

[Red Hat]

I haven't used my wipers in years. I use Rain-X. Rain-X works great by itself but even better with sunglasses...

[ricbak]

I haven't used my wipers in years. I use Rain-X. Rain-X works great by itself but even better with sunglasses...

+1, I Change the blades a couple times a years... They are pretty cheap...

[Booga]

Many sunglasses are polarized. You cut out half the light from reflected non-metal surfaces. Thus, half the glare in the rain is eliminated. Less glare = better vision.

[FN1910]

I have never understood this idea about the cruise control and speeding up. All the cars I ever worked on (don't work on them anymore, too complicated) the speed was measured by a cable from the transmission that measured how fast you were going based on the output of the transmission and not actual road speed. So if you hydro-plane and your tires start spinning the cruise control would think you are speeding up and slow you down however not as much as you are actually slowing down. By this I mean if you hydro-plane your engine won't all of a sudden go wide open and try to make you go 120.

However it is not a good idea at all to have anything automatic going on during pood driving conditions, you should maintain control of your car and if you can't then park the thing. One other thing along that line, when your accelerator sticks and you are all of a sudden speeding up why can't you put it in neutral and turn the thing off. Every car I have ever tried there is a position between ON and lock on the key that will allow you to steer the car even when the ignition is off. Also I haven't found one that won't let you shift to neutral while driving down the road. What am I missing!

[Red Hat]

I know from experience that rear wheel drive vehicles will speed up while hydroplaning and try to swap ends. This happened to me once and since then I turn off my cruise control in heavy rain.

[FN1910]

I know from experience that rear wheel drive vehicles will speed up while hydroplaning and try to swap ends. This happened to me once and since then I turn off my cruise control in heavy rain.

Only heavy rain? I don't use mine in any rain.

What you are experiencing in the front wheels and whole car slowing down and the rear wheels trying to maintain the same speed. When this happens the back end will pass the front end because the entire car is slowing down but the transmission and cruise control want to maintain that same speed. It doesn't actually speed up but feels that way. It's like a lot of people drive with their foot on the gas and brake pressing both at the same time. I told one person that if they didn't stop that I was going to get out and walk. It would have been better on my nerves.

[Oregon Vet]

It's like a lot of people drive with their foot on the gas and brake pressing both at the same time. I told one person that if they didn't stop that I was going to get out and walk. It would have been better on my nerves.

I said that one time really LOUD. "GET YOUR GO*****ED LEFT FOOT OFF THE *********G BRAKE!!!!" after Rick Cherry about put me through the windshield because he didn't see a car coming and when he did he had the brake to the floor and the gas too. People that drive like that are idiots.

It really isn't that hard to take your right foot off the throttle and put it on the brake petal. If you don't have time to do that, then you are way over driving; your experience and reaction time too. Just an accident waiting to happen.

Handcuff their left leg to the seat. 99% of them would probably end up dead, STILL trying to put their LEFT foot on the brake when they ran into someone.

We had drivers education back in the 60's even... every one of the cars were stick-shift. It appears from looking at drivers ed cars today, that 100% of them must have automatics.

I would like to see them drive a stick shift... LOL. What do they do, put it in neutral and then take their left foot off the clutch and put it on the brake? Oh, maybe they can't drive a standard transmission? You think??

I'm with FN... I will take my own rig if I know in advance someone is a "both feet" driver. Too hard on my nerves to ride with "those" people.

You can tell some of them by the brake lights being on while they are driving down the street.

You ask them "What are you doing, driving around with your left foot on the brake all the time?" Reply "I have to be 'ready' in case I have to stop quickly."

IF that is true, then they shouldn't be on the road in the first place.

.

[ozarkgunner]

I have never understood this idea about the cruise control and speeding up. All the cars I ever worked on (don't work on them anymore, too complicated) the speed was measured by a cable from the transmission that measured how fast you were going based on the output of the transmission and not actual road speed. So if you hydro-plane and your tires start spinning the cruise control would think you are speeding up and slow you down however not as much as you are actually slowing down. By this I mean if you hydro-plane your engine won't all of a sudden go wide open and try to make you go 120.

However it is not a good idea at all to have anything automatic going on during pood driving conditions, you should maintain control of your car and if you can't then park the thing. One other thing along that line, when your accelerator sticks and you are all of a sudden speeding up why can't you put it in neutral and turn the thing off. Every car I have ever tried there is a position between ON and lock on the key that will allow you to steer the car even when the ignition is off. Also I haven't found one that won't let you shift to neutral while driving down the road. What am I missing!

Are you or were you a mechanic? The problem with turning off the engine while you are driving is that you loose power steering and the vacuum boost for the brakes. Yes you can still turn the wheel and apply the brakes, but only if you have gorrila arms and a hydrolic ram for a leg. Vehicles with power steering have to have the engine running to control the vehicle. The same with brakes, 4 wheel disk or not.
Some automatic transmissions are difficult to change gears when the vehicle is under acceleration, so it's not always possible to shift up into neutral on the go. And if you do shut off the engine while your moving, the only viable option to try to stop the vehicle is by slowly applying the e-brake/parking brake. As it uses a sepperate cable to activate the brakes.