What Should Care Of When Driving On Water/raining Days!

[ColomboRox]

What should care of when driving on water/Raining days!

[VVTi]

Don't speed. Stick to a manageable speed. 40-50 is a good speed.

Keep your distance from the car in front.

Keep your parking lights on.

Make sure your wipers are in good condition.

Signal well in advance, and use proper signals to turn, stop, etc.

Make sure the tyres are in good condition.

For flooded roads, ensure that you know the height of which your air intake is in the engine bay. If you suck in water, you are toast.

Best thing is if you see water that you think is higher than your car can handle, take an alternate route or wait it out, given the circumstance allows it.

Even if you are careful the bow wave off a bus or a larger vehicle will flood the engine if the water level is high.

[Malaka2]

tires, windshield( should be clear visible specially rain) Best if your Air con works in case of mist forming in windshield. Good bright headlamps.These tips for raining day. driving through water must be more careful than that. I mean flood season, ?It better to have a good natural disaster cover up policy in case of where you live or where you recently visit cause danger. As long as your air filter in high above flood water you're safe. Think about the water level before you enter, sometimes it jams your brake system if it slithering hot when you enter flood.

[Magnum]

Don't speed. Stick to a manageable speed. 40-50 is a good speed.

Keep your distance from the car in front.

Keep your parking lights on.

Make sure your wipers are in good condition.

Signal well in advance, and use proper signals to turn, stop, etc.

Make sure the tyres are in good condition.

For flooded roads, ensure that you know the height of which your air intake is in the engine bay. If you suck in water, you are toast.

Best thing is if you see water that you think is higher than your car can handle, take an alternate route or wait it out, given the circumstance allows it.

Even if you are careful the bow wave off a bus or a larger vehicle will flood the engine if the water level is high.

To determine the right following distance, first select a fixed object on the road ahead such as a sign, tree or overpass. When the vehicle ahead of you passes the object, slowly count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." If you reach the object before completing the count, you're following too closely. Making sure there are three seconds between you and the car ahead gives you time and distance to respond to problems in the lane ahead of you.

Inclement Weather, Heavy Traffic, or Night-Time Driving - In heavy traffic, at night, or when weather conditions are not ideal (eg. light rain, light fog, light snow), double the three second rule to six seconds, for added safety.

Poor Weather - If the weather conditions are very poor, eg. heavy rain, heavy fog, or heavy snow, start by tripling the three second rule to nine seconds to determine a safe following distance.

[vishkid]

Apart from all above advise to keep YOU safe, I also encourage you to be respectful for people walking along the road and go slowly when there's water/puddles etc, so that you don't splash them. One of my pet peevs!

[terrabytetango]

This is my mantra of night driving during a downpour.

Switch on your wipers. I've seen SO many people who simply don't think about using them. You manhood won't be affected by regular use of the wipers. Also keep the wiper washer bottle topped up regularly.

Switch on your lights, including your fogs, if independently operated switch on the rear ones at least. This is more for the benefit of making yourself visible to traffic rather than improving your own visibility of the road. Your mirrors will mostly be useless and there won't be any point in rolling down the window and cleaning the right hand mirror.

Avoid overtaking, but if you do have to, maybe to overtake a stopped vehicle, don't make any sudden maneuvers; assume that all other vehicles around you can't see even half as much as you, so give them plenty of room.

Be especially careful at junctions with no street lights when making turns, since windows and mirrors will be useless. Push bikes and pedestrians will be all but invisible, although they assume we being in a car have telescopic night vision. And there will always be the odd motorbike with no lights (and usually no brakes) as well.

If it's really heavy rain, to the point you cant make out the difference between the road and the gutter, I usually follow the vehicle in front of me allowing for a generous gap between us.

Edited April 16, 2012 by terrabytetango

[VVTi]

If it's really heavy rain, to the point you cant make out the difference between the road and the gutter, I usually follow the vehicle in front of me allowing for a generous gap between us.

I normally find a nice safe place to park and sit out the rain if its pouring too hard that you cant see. Its not me that I am worried about, its some other fellow who cant see but is driving.

[trinity]

Switch on your lights, including your fogs,

Machan no offense, but doesn't this blindside drivers going the opposite direction?? Once i had to stop the car in the middle of the road cuz some big SUV kinda vehicle was coming from the opposite direction with his high beams and fogs on... it was pouring heavily and i practically could not see an inch in front of the road...

[Davy]

Moisture/Condensation buildup on windshields can be a real pain sometimes; especially if you’re driving a car without AC or if your car gets a little crowded. Unless of course you have heated windshields and stuff like that onboard.

• Turn on the defogger on the rear windshield if required. Most vehicles have a defogger as standard nowadays.
  

• Maintain a good temperature inside the car so that moisture doesn’t build up on the inside. If the front windshield still gets foggy, direct the airflow of the AC towards the windshield using the AC vent controls. (works faster than cleaning with a cloth)
  

[Pericles]

Machan no offense, but doesn't this blindside drivers going the opposite direction?? Once i had to stop the car in the middle of the road cuz some big SUV kinda vehicle was coming from the opposite direction with his high beams and fogs on... it was pouring heavily and i practically could not see an inch in front of the road...

He said switch the lights no, not the high beams. After driving through that storm on Saturday, I'd confirm the lights are useful even in the daytime. You can see vehicles easier, the problems are the piddling three wheelers that don't use light, can't see them until they are right in front. Speed is slow enough that there isn't any trouble, but still.

[Ripper]

Machan no offense, but doesn't this blindside drivers going the opposite direction?? Once i had to stop the car in the middle of the road cuz some big SUV kinda vehicle was coming from the opposite direction with his high beams and fogs on... it was pouring heavily and i practically could not see an inch in front of the road...

proper fogs are wider beams aimed low to illuminate the road bits right in front of the vehicle. These can't blind oncoming traffic.

High beams are another story altogether

[terrabytetango]

Machan no offense, but doesn't this blindside drivers going the opposite direction?? Once i had to stop the car in the middle of the road cuz some big SUV kinda vehicle was coming from the opposite direction with his high beams and fogs on... it was pouring heavily and i practically could not see an inch in front of the road...

I should've been clearer; like the others said, I was referring to low beams, not high beams.

[JadeyBlitzen]

Avoid standing water. especially when going at high speeds like on the expressway. the reason is your tyres might not be able to displace enough water to maintain good grip. another reason to maintain good thread levels. Most importantly avoid cornering fast on standing water.

Stay in a low gear. don't bother cruising in top gear. shift down and keep the revs up. when something goes wrong you got enough engine braking to slow you down or provide some grip if skidding.

Massage the brakes gently after driving through water. When the pads are soaked and when you hit the brakes hard not much will happen. I usually keep the brake pressed a bit with my left foot to heat them up. kinda hard to get used to it. Newer cars have automatic brake massaging systems.

Avoid full blown starts at junctions or even straight lines especially in rwd vehicles and/or if you got high performance tyres. the wheels spin easily when wet or covered in mud. and for the experienced that might just be enough to have an accident.

[trinity]

Peri,Ripper & tt .. agreed with you all...as long as we do not offend other people on the road just to have a easy drive...

Sorry i misread the lights as high beams since that incident still hovers in my mind.. hope u guys get what i mean..

Cheers!!

[dpbatagoda]

Important:

when you are driving in a water more than 6 inches, make sure you put the car to lower gear and increase the rpm, this will generate power to penetrate through water and also this avoids sucking water.

[The Stig]

Important:

when you are driving in a water more than 6 inches, make sure you put the car to lower gear and increase the rpm, this will generate power to penetrate through water and also this avoids sucking water.

how exactly would revving the engine higher and using a lower gear avoid sucking in water ? arnt engines that are revving higher suck in a larger volume of air compared to a low revving engine ?

[whmsujith]

Once I was asked Rs 500/= to push the car 200m stretch (engine stopped) in Madampe area when th road was flooded after heavy downpour. Water level ws up to ....as i can remember couple of inches bove mudguards. I didn't take a risk, went bck cancelling the trip.

Is it ok to go down water at a certain level when engine is off?

[ColomboRox]

whats are the reasons that engine can be stopped on water?

[Ripper]

how exactly would revving the engine higher and using a lower gear avoid sucking in water ? arnt engines that are revving higher suck in a larger volume of air compared to a low revving engine ?

the logic in that thought is that higher revs will get the exhaust out faster and water wont be taken up through the tail pipe which generally sits very low. Also wading puts a lot more stress on an engine cos the water resistance is quite high compared to driving on dry ground. So the chances of a en engine stall is higher when wading. It's safest to be on low gears and at high revs.

None of these will help if the water gets into the intake.

Then it's lights out!!!

whats are the reasons that engine can be stopped on water?

If water gets into your air intake it will be sucked into the combustion chamber. Things will be worse on a diesel vehicle cos the engine runs at higher compression. engine will not only die but also suffer lots of mechanical damaged. con rods etc are known to bend and go kaput.

Google "hydrolocking an engine" and you'd get a proper run down.

[The Stig]

the logic in that thought is that higher revs will get the exhaust out faster and water wont be taken up through the tail pipe which generally sits very low. Also wading puts a lot more stress on an engine cos the water resistance is quite high compared to driving on dry ground. So the chances of a en engine stall is higher when wading. It's safest to be on low gears and at high revs.

None of these will help if the water gets into the intake.

Then it's lights out!!!

Hmmmm i guess that makes sense. Little clarification, keep water out of the exhaust cause of the back pressure it would creates right ?

[Ripper]

Hmmmm i guess that makes sense. Little clarification, keep water out of the exhaust cause of the back pressure it would creates right ?

yep! i too have waded somewhat deep water minus a snorkel. revs high, low gear and always follow the bow wave, never try to overtake it or slowdown...

http://www.drivingfast.net/off-road/obstacles/deep-water-wading.htm

it really works! i've waded when the water was covering part of my headlights without hydrolocking the engine!

[jaga]

Also beware of floating. Once I got floated for a while on Base Line when a bus went fast on the inner lane.You loose the control totally.

[Straga]

I had a class in the morning and the roads were a mess. Park road was completely flooded, at one section water came into the car through the pedals and that scared the life oughtta me. Any tips for driving through flooded roads like that? I panicked and just floored it, is that good or bad?

[terrabytetango]

Also beware of floating. Once I got floated for a while on Base Line when a bus went fast on the inner lane.You loose the control totally.

It's called Hydroplaning.