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Being behind the wheel with a rain-splattered windshield doesn't have to be an agitating, scary experience. The first step is to check your windshield wipers and replace them when streaking occurs. And while many of these other safety tips might seem like common sense, it's always good to run through a mental checklist when driving in the rain. Cruise control can increase your reaction time and significantly affect your control of the vehicle. This applies to both conventional and adaptive cruise control.
Is It Safe to Drive in the Rain With Cruise Control On?
The highway patrol estimated her car was actually traveling through the air at 10 to 15 miles per hour faster than the speed set on the cruise control. Mark Reif has followed sports cars and auto racing since the early 80s, having read countless editions of Road & Track and Car & Driver and observed Formula 1, endurance racing, and the Indy 500. After earning a bachelor’s in industrial design from Virginia Tech, Mark finds himself looking deep into car designs to better understand their style and function.
Beware of hydroplaning
Rain will likely affect your visibility, and cruise control might adversely affect your alertness, control, and reaction times. How much you slow down (or the reduced speed you set for cruise control) depends on your driving skills and the severity of the rain. The general recommendation is reducing normal speeds by a third in wet conditions. Contrary to what some people believe, cruise control won’t cause overspeeding in the rain, and the car will maintain the speed you select. However, there are a few safety issues that you must consider seriously. In a rear-wheel drive car it can cause oversteer which means the back of your car will swing out the opposite way you are turning.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Cruise Control When It’s Raining
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. Wet-road driving is fraught with dangers that are not always immediately apparent. Just a thin layer of water lying on pavement can send an unsuspecting car hydroplaning into another lane — the car's wheels skim along the water's surface instead of making contact with the road.
Don’t Panic
A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore, Texas, she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessive, when her car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air. 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. 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.
You can lose control with as little as three inches of water on the road. And even if you manage to stay in control, a larger vehicle could push some of that water underneath your car, causing your engine to stall. Most states require drivers to turn on their vehicles’ lights while driving in the rain. Even if it is only misting, turning on your vehicle’s headlights will increase your visibility and other drivers’ ability to see your car on the road.
As a result, while driving, the engine is constantly working since there is always something pushing against the vehicle. To maintain speed, the engine must overcome wind resistance, friction and power losses in the gearbox and differential, and tire rolling resistance. It’s generally only accurate to within 3-5kph, so setting it to 107kph is a bad idea since you’ll likely occasionally exceed the police’s tolerance. Cruise control detects your vehicle’s speed and modifies the throttle inputs to maintain that speed. Check out our program for bite-sized lessons, practice tests, and behind-the-wheel videos. You’ll even find lessons specific to your state’s laws and guidelines.
While cruise control may seem a safe option for driving long distances in heavy rain, the less-manual cruise control approach may be more of a hindrance when confronted with split-second judgments on slick roads. Cruise control allows drivers to maintain a steady speed while using less gas. Cruise control makes hydroplaning worse by trying to keep your vehicle going at a constant speed. You can disable it by applying your brakes, but if you do not have anti-lock brakes, hitting your brakes while hydroplaning will only make the skidding worse. In rainy conditions, your driving should be as predictable as possible to others on the road.
Driving in the rain: 8 expert tips for the safest ride in a storm. - Frankenmuth Insurance
Driving in the rain: 8 expert tips for the safest ride in a storm..
Posted: Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Please pass the word around about not using cruise control when the pavement is wet or icy. The highway patrolman said this should be on the sun-visor with the warning about air-bags. 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 is a great feature, especially on those long road trips, but make sure you keep an eye out for wet roads and rain.
Rain happens all the time, and people still have to go places even when it’s wet on the roads. But wet weather driving can be hazardous, causing skids, hydroplaning, and slick roads. It can be tough to keep control of your vehicle when roadways are wet, but these tips can help you stay safer. Follow these tips to tackle rainy roads like an expert — and know when it’s smart to avoid driving, turn around, or pull over to wait for the rain to pass. It’s important to note that It wasn’t raining at the time that this happened, the road was just wet from a past rainstorm that had passed through.
Winter Driving Tips: The Hidden Danger Of Using Cruise Control On Slippery Surfaces - News Radio 1310 KLIX
Winter Driving Tips: The Hidden Danger Of Using Cruise Control On Slippery Surfaces.
Posted: Thu, 04 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
It doesn’t accelerate hard and most systems have no control over the brakes. Flooding hides road defects, increases the risk of hydroplaning, and reduces your vehicle’s control. Look for unusually high water levels on roads, reduced lanes, or traffic moving slower than usual. The slippery surface reduces tire traction, making it harder to stop quickly and potentially leading to collisions.
Plus, the wet road or terrain is unlikely to offer the firm grip your car or its tires have in normal conditions. However, people often reduce the speed further during a torrential downpour or if visibility is a problem. Likewise, the road conditions will influence the speed at which they set their cruise control.
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. This can cause your vehicle to hydroplane out of control when you least expect it to. While the technology in cruise control has been improved over the years it is still a somewhat unintelligent system. Cruise control is designed to make sure that your vehicle maintains a certain speed regardless of what kind of road surface you are driving on.
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