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And the amazing thing is that that opinion was never correct, not even in 1958 when cruise control arrived on the scene. Now, before we go too much deeper, I’d like to point out that this article isn’t my opinion, rather, I chatted with the technical boss of a major car company to get to grips with the subject and compiled it from that conversation. Hi, I'm Jake Jackson and I am a car enthusiast and gear head.
How to respond to a skid in the rain
Contrary to what the email says, you won’t ‘fly through the air’ – in fact, you will barely accelerate. If you begin hydroplaning while the cruise control is on, you will actually be going faster. It could take a second or two for the cruise control function to disengage allowing you to take control of your vehicle and slow down. If you should happen to find yourself behind the wheel of a motor vehicle while the rain is pounding down, you should always disable the cruise control. This is simply because if you should have the bad fortune to hydroplane, cruise control is just going to make matters that much worse. On wet roads, It’s risky to get behind the wheel with worn or flat tires.
Under What Conditions Should You Not Be Using Cruise Control?
Cruise control detects your vehicle’s speed and modifies the throttle inputs to maintain that speed. Turn in the direction of the skid — the direction the front of your car wants to go — until you regain full control and the car has slowed on its own. Roads are built to withstand different weather conditions in different parts of the country, so if you’re new to an area, use extra caution during or after a storm. The only person the accident victim found who knew this, (besides the Officer), was a man who’d had a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries.. According to the Federal Highway Administration, from 2007 to 2016, more than 800,000 car crashes were caused by wet pavements, resulting in more than 300,000 injuries and more than 4,000 deaths in the U.S. Cruise control can be both a lifesaver and a nightmare for drivers.
Safety tips for driving through the rain - Spectrum News 1
Safety tips for driving through the rain.
Posted: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Traffic Problems
Motive serves more than 120,000 businesses, across a wide range of industries including trucking and logistics, construction, oil and gas, food and beverage, field service, agriculture, passenger transit, and delivery. As a result, you may find that your vehicle’s windows become foggy when you operate it while it is raining. Most cars’ ventilation systems include a function that will reduce this type of fog that develops on the interior of your windows and windshield. It may be necessary to pull over if you can no longer see through your windows. In most cars, the feature can be disabled by hitting the brakes, but doing this, it can make the skidding worse, especially if you don’t have anti-locking brakes. The next time you find yourself behind the wheel of car in a rainstorm, be sure to disable cruise control.
Tires that have more wear also increase this risk so be sure to check your tires' tread depth regularly. When driving on wet roads, disable your cruise control and lower your speed. If you start to skid or hydroplane, take your foot off the gas, grasp the steering wheel with both hands, and steer toward the direction of the skid. Once you have some control, you can correct your car and get centered back in your lane. Cruise control in snow and ice is a different matter because you wouldn’t be traveling fast enough to warrant using cruise control. Many vehicles don’t let you set the cruise control at less than 30kph.
It’s also able to tell the system when the brake pedal has been pressed so that it doesn’t try and fight against the driver, and instead deactivates the cruise system. That way your cruise control does not try to accelerate when it doesn’t have any grip on the road surface. Always pay attention to the road surface in front of you to make sure that the path is clear from debris while using cruise control or driving in general. If you hit a spot of water in the road while your cruise control is on your car will continue to accelerate which can cause you to lose control of your car and slide off of the side of the road. This can become a problem for you if you are driving with your cruise control on and you hit a slick spot on the road as your cruise control will remain on and try to power the car through the slick spot.
If there is a middle lane, drive in it to help increase visibility and avoid deep water that might develop when rain runs off the sides of the road. Department of Transportation, there are nearly 1,235,000 automobile accidents each year related to weather. A majority of those accidents happen during rainfall (46%) and when the pavement is wet (70%).
Avoid the splash
This slow speed is unlikely to be a risk factor as an isolated element. However, many people have their cruise control speed set much higher than the minimum. Turning on your high beam lights isn’t a good idea, though, as they will be too reflective and can make it more difficult for both you and other drivers to see.
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Cruise control also restricts your capacity to make quick judgments while using cruise control in the rain. In typical driving circumstances, slowing speed is as simple as relaxing off the gas pedal. The cruise control feature in your car often has a minimum speed limit of 25 mph (~40 km/h). The cruise control feature isn’t identical for all cars, including different models of the same brand. You may have either conventional or adaptive cruise control in your car.
This encounter was scary enough that I learned my lesson and no longer drive with cruise control on if the road surface is wet or if there are icy roads. When you use cruise control for long road trips or even short highway trips this allows your car to maintain a steady speed instead of accelerating and decelerating constantly. Because you are maintaining a steady speed this allows your engine to not have to work as hard to keep your vehicle moving at a steady speed.
State Farm notes it’s also good practice to dim the dashboard lights, which can reduce glare. Additionally, avoid looking at oncoming headlights and ventilate your car to help reduce fog forming inside your windows. Plus, you’ll know to check tire inflation and to make sure that windshield wipers and window defrosters are working properly. It may take three to five adjustments to get back on course. Lower the temperature inside your car quickly by cracking a window if your vent system doesn’t help.
If you are driving down the road with your cruise control on your car doesn’t realize that the road surface may have lost some of its grip from the rainwater and continue to accelerate forward as if there was no rain on the road. Have you ever been driving along using your cruise control and had your wheels slip when you were driving down the road? Your cruise control system was not designed to be used in bad weather or on icy roads. This article explains why you should not use cruise control in the rain and why you should really only be using cruise control if the roads are dry. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, most adaptive cruise control systems have a response time of 1.1 seconds, significantly longer than human drivers.
Consider taking a driving course through your local Department of Motor Vehicles to learn how to drive safer on wet roads and better avoid hydroplaning. Check your local driving schools, too, to see if they offer safe driving courses. Driving through wet roads at high speeds can cause your car to lose traction and hydroplane as your tires will rotate too fast to grip the roads properly.
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