Essential Tips to Follow While Traveling in Rainy Weather

Bad weather is bound to happen, it is unavoidable. With this in mind, we can’t prolong our travel plans every time there is a little rain, so the best way to prepare ourselves is by learning what to do in these situations. Let’s go over some of the most notable tips you should implement when travelling.

If You Have the Option to, Don’t Drive During Rainy Weather

The most obvious tip and easiest one to do is simply not drive. If you have the option to, if driving is not critical right now, then don’t. Sometimes if you want to avoid risk altogether, the best option is to simply not take it. This is especially important if you are an inexperienced driver or have any doubts about driving at that particular moment. Don’t put yourself in danger’s way if there is no need to do so.

Drive at a Slower Pace

The most basic tip will be to simply drive slower. When the road is wet, it can cause multiple problems to arise during the drive, and the best way of reducing these issues would be by driving at a slower pace. The reaction time of your vehicle will be slower as well, so go 2/3 of the speed you usually would in normal conditions.

This can be irritating if you are making a long drive to another city, but in the grand scheme of things, it is better to arrive at your destination an hour late rather than not arrive at all.

Turn on Your Headlights

Turning on your headlights during rain is important for two things:

• Rain can reduce your line of vision, so headlights will help you see further on the road
• It will also make other drivers more aware of your vehicle on the road

It is also a legal obligation in some countries. So, if you don’t care about your safety, care about your wallet.

Make Sure Your Equipment Is Maintained Properly

When going out on the road, it is important to make sure that your equipment is perfectly set for the road ahead. A good habit would be to check tire pressure once a month. This practice will serve you well, and it is all the more important during rainy conditions. Doing this will prolong the lifespan of the tires, if you avoid doing so will result in rapid or irregular wearing down of the tires, which can lead to internal tire damage, spontaneous tire failure, and potentially cause an accident to happen.

You also need to check the headlights and tail lights before driving to make sure that everything is in order. Other things to check should include the windshield wipers and to see if there are any leaks.

Focus When You’re Driving in the Rain

While this tip seems more obvious than the rest, it is certainly not any less important. If you are an experienced driver, it will come as no surprise that you mostly drive on mental auto-pilot now. It’s normal and it’s understandable. However, during harsher weather, you need to focus on the road more than usual. As you have noticed, we mention throughout the article that how you interact on the road changes and you need to be more aware of your surroundings. This all comes down to your reflexes and awareness of your surroundings. You can stimulate higher focus on the road by turning off the music, not talking too much with your passengers, and not using your phone (this means both answering it and especially texting).

Keep a Wider Distance Between Vehicles

Since more accidents are prone to happen during bad weather, it is advised to keep a wider distance between yourself and other vehicles. This is advisable due to multiple factors:

• Everyone’s sight is reduced
• Braking is harder when the road is wet
• You have less time to react on the road than you normally would in better conditions

Always Keep a Spare Key

We tend to forget small objects when we go somewhere, and one among them is our car keys. This is, usually, an irritating occurrence. But once it happens during rain, it brings it to a whole other level. So in order to prevent a lockout from occurring, always make sure that you have a spare key. In case you do not have a spare key, try contacting a nearby locksmith. For example, Sydney is known for its quality locksmiths, so if you are locked out while travelling in Sydney, provided that you have internet access, you can go online and get the contact information of the nearest locksmith company. If you’re lucky, they have a mobile locksmith service and come to your rescue in no time.

Leave Cruise Control for Another Day

Cruise control always comes in handy during driving. However, when it’s raining, it becomes a safety hazard. The cruise control system isn’t made to steer properly during wet and icy conditions, this can lead to it putting both you and others at risk on the road, nor does it take a necessary reduction of speed into consideration when operating. For these reasons, it is better to leave cruise control for another (sunny) day.

Use the Windshield Wipers

It comes as no surprise that you should be regularly using your windshield wipers during rain. But many do this only during heavy rain when they can’t see a thing. In reality, you should be doing this even in light rain to maintain 100% of your vision. Don’t be satisfied with only 70% if you can easily increase it.

When you are driving in rainy conditions, condensation will occur in the inner surface of your windscreen which causes it to fog up. This happens because of the lower temperature outside of the vehicle while the inside humidity remains at a higher degree. In this situation, the wipers won’t have any effect due to the problem being inside of the car and not outside. To solve this issue, you need to set the air conditioner in cold mode.

Avoid Sudden Braking

Worse weather conditions can impact your stopping distance by increasing it. Sudden braking should be avoided when possible, especially during severe weather as it causes your tires to lose traction with the road, thus causing you to lose control of your car. In some cases, sudden braking can even trigger your anti-brake system if you hit the brake too hard. This will cause the system to wear out much faster than it is supposed to and lead to future worse brake function.