Rain Driving: The Fast and the Slow of It

Rain, rain go away. Come again another day.

Ok, so everyone knows, driving is even more treacherous when you add rain to the mix.

AAA says that “wet pavement contributes to nearly 1.2 million traffic crashes per year!”

What drives me crazy is both the drivers that don’t slow down enough to account for the rain AND drivers who slow down too much out of an excess of caution.

Yes, people, there is a happy medium to be had.

Most will warn to slow down in the rain; to be sure, it requires extra attention and may very well require that you slow below the posted speed limit.

According to iDriveSafely.com:

“It only takes 1/12th an inch of rain and 35 mph to hydroplane. The roads are more dangerous when rain comes after a dry spell. (Rain slicks the road with accumulated oil and dirt.) But you just need water. Even though most of the oil washes off after one day’s rain, wet roads are dangerous—rainy weather or not.”

But…

The slower speed some choose to go in the rain can be a tad overly cautious and equally dangerous. You don’t have to crawl! And, for goodness sake, if you’re going to crawl, please do it in the right lane.

For those of you who fail to slow down at all in the rain and, further, exceed the posted speed limit, knock it off! See Accidents: There Ain’t Nothing Good Here.

There’s no shortage of tips for wet-weather driving on the interwebs. I’ve included several for you here. And, unless you’re part of the car-free movement, most of these tips should be pretty obvious to you.

There are a few interesting factoids though.

Like, per How Stuff Works, don’t drive toward the sides of the road in rain because there is more water there. Roads are built to be highest in the middle.