What should we pay attention to in driving rainy days

In the rainy days, the old drivers always complained that the usual roads that were already congested suddenly emerged a large number of people who would not drive. They either made rapid progress or could not keep the correct lanes, leaving aside a few inexperienced ones（Novices）. As well as some local drivers may be correct habits and knowledge of lack of rainy weather. Along with the evening peaks of lightning and thunder at the moment, we will be talking about the rainy weather today and we will talk to you about the correct and safe driving methods. We hope to help the “new drivers”.

Driving compared with “normal” weather, the biggest difference between rainy weather is mainly in the poor traffic vision and wet road. From a subjective perspective, poor vision will reduce our sense of security, and many people will instinctively lower the speed. From an objective point of view, slippery roads will reduce tire grip performance, and low-speed driving naturally helps to improve safety. However, all things must be dialectical analysis. Excessive pursuit of low speed in urban roads will not only aggravate congestion but will also be detrimental to driving safety. Then how can we maintain normal driving in rainy weather?

Driving on slippery roads Increasing the distance between cars is more important than reducing the speed

Theoretically, the adhesion coefficient of the accumulated water surface is low, and the tire grip performance will be lower than that of the dry condition. Therefore, it will be safer to slow down the vehicle speed. This is also the “misconception” of most people. This point of view we have ignored the original intention of the road and tire design, and the “speed balance” principle.

Rainy Day = Lower Speed? They have no connection

Many people believe that wet weather is not smooth and the visibility is poor. Therefore, slowing down the speed is more conducive to driving safety. In fact, there is no inevitable link between rainy days and speed reduction. Excessively pursuing low speeds will do more harm than good.

At the beginning of the road design, urban roads have fully taken into account the drainage performance and the adhesion coefficient of rain and snow weather. Therefore, within the speed limit rules, normal driving can be guaranteed.

Similarly, the tire products on the market (four-season tires, rain tires) will also take into account the grip performance of wet surfaces, and it is not a problem to meet the normal speed.

To sum up, deliberately slowing down the speed in cloudy and rainy weather is actually redundant, because no matter if the vehicle or the road has been considered at the beginning of design, the impact of rain and snow on the performance of the grip, there will be no safety risks at normal speed.

In contrast, maintaining a reasonable speed in rainy weather while properly pulling a larger distance is the right approach. This will not only improve the road traffic efficiency but also allow more margin for braking and deceleration to ensure traffic safety.

From a safety point, roads and tires have fully taken into account the declining grip performance in rain and snow at the beginning of design. Therefore, driving within the prescribed speed limit is sufficient to ensure safety. From the viewpoint of improving the efficiency of traffic, maintaining a reasonable speed can also improve road utilization and help relieve congestion. On the other hand, when everyone is driving at a reasonable speed, it is more dangerous to experience the slow speed at which individual “tortoise speeds” advance. Therefore, if you want to discuss the safety of driving on rainy days, it is most correct to increase the distance between the front and the rear.

Improve the horizon is actually simple in rainy weather

After understanding that the speed of rain is not as slow as possible, it is time to talk about the sight of a lot of novice drivers. If you want to improve the speed, you naturally need a clear view of the traffic, or you will not dare to drive on the road, let alone increase the reasonable speed.

On rainy days, proper use of wipers is an important tool to ensure forward vision, but many people do not know how to choose a reasonable wiper speed. Too fast and too slow wiper speeds actually have safety hazards.

The disadvantages of slow wiper speed need not be mentioned. However, if the wiper speed is opened too fast in the sporadic light rain, it will cause unnecessary disturbance to our sight. The reasonable speed should be based on the rapid drop of water that can obstruct the view.

Whether in rain, snow or in the early morning, the width lamp should be turned on when the ambient light is poor. With the instructions of the width lamp, we can quickly know the position of the front and rear cars even on a rainy day.

It is undeniable that the side views of rainy days and outside rearview mirrors will have a greater impact on sightlines. It is recommended that you drive as much as possible to reduce unnecessary parallelism during rainy days, and remember to turn on the turn signals earlier to indicate the rear vehicles.

Driving on a rainy day, the correct wiper speed and light usage are important ways to ensure the horizon. In addition, many people are accustomed to turning on double-flashing lights in rainy weather. In fact, this is not safe from a security point of view. When everyone starts dual flash driving, double flash has lost its significance because the rear vehicle cannot recognize at a long distance whether the preceding vehicle is stopped on the road.

Precautions on rainy days

Theoretically, the depth of the vehicle’s wading depth depends on the height of the engine’s air intake, but the actual wading conditions also need to consider many factors such as waves, bumps, and electrical equipment in the engine room. Therefore, it cannot be generalized.

If you are not sure about the wading ability of your own vehicle, the smartest way is to follow the action in front of the car. If the previous car that is similar to its own model passes smoothly, then we can do, otherwise, we will still wait.

When the wading road section is only our own, the sure thing is to walk around. If you have to cross the surface, the safest reference is to refer to the center line of the wheel. In principle, it is safe that the water surface is not more than half of the wheel

Surface gathered water is the more extreme weather. In fact, the most sensible choice for such weather conditions is to switch to public transportation. However, if we are really in need of wading in the car, we must deal with these issues wisely.

Don’t ignore driving etiquette on rainy days

Trying to be courteous in the wind and rain, pedestrians and non-motor vehicles should be the most basic quality of each of our drivers. Of course, pedestrian observation in rainy days is limited, the congenial pedestrian is also an important prerequisite to ensure traffic safety.

Actually, as long as we understand the principle of vehicle performance and the correct way to deal with it, driving in rainy weather is not as difficult as we thought. Of course, if we want to ensure that the rainy weather can achieve a smoother and more harmonious traffic environment, we cannot do without the efforts of every traffic participant. As mentioned above, perhaps we can all remember driving principles in rainy weather, but as long as there are individuals who “do not follow the rules,” they will make everyone’s efforts fall short. From this perspective, we actually have a long way to go. Go, but first, we must start from ourselves.