How does weather change your driving?

Topics relating to Advanced Driving in cars
Astraist
Posts: 239
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:41 pm

Re: How does weather change your driving?

Postby Astraist » Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:07 pm

It all depends on the conditions, and on the frequency in which the manifest themselves. I am actually surprised to hear that in a rain-abundant Britian, drivers still have to adjust their driving or change it for rain.

I don't dramatically change my driving in the wet, even though in my whereabouts it's far from frequent. There are about twenty rainy days (NOT in sequence) annually here, and the rain showers are usually very far from severe and are quite short so by making small adjustments to departure times you can wait off the rain and even let the road dry out all together.

I would say that others do change their driving style by some degree. In some ways it's for the better: Drivers are less rushed, less aggressive in their inputs, honk less at other road users, possibly maintain larger following distances. Simply put, they drive in the wet as they should be driving on the dry.

Much of the problem comes from ignorance in using the systems in the car, namely the windshield demister, rather than either car control, observational skills or pace. There is also a whole heap of problems in interacting with pedestrians who want to spend the least time under the rain and cold and can be quite rushed at crossings.

However there is also some of this timid sort of behavior which gives rise to other risks by not matching the expectations of others, but I'll wager it's still the smaller portion of road users.

The problem with driver behavior in infrequent rain is that the time in which they need to start adjusting their driving to the change in conditions (by which I mean that they don't do it early enough), tends to coincide with when the road is most slippery due to run-off that tends to inhibit itself unto the road from the past dry week or two.

The problem is aggravated when the rain stops falling but the road is still slightly wet, so there is less visual warning signs in the form of water drops and drivers aren't as vigilant. It means more distance seen to be clear obviously, but not necessarily a greater ability to safely stop within a given distance.

waremark
Posts: 898
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:23 am

Re: How does weather change your driving?

Postby waremark » Thu Dec 03, 2015 5:49 pm

In bad weather I expect pedestrians and cyclists to change direction with even less warning or care than in normal conditions.

When bad weather reduces my vision I adjust my speed

TheInsanity1234
Posts: 544
Joined: Fri Oct 02, 2015 8:03 pm

Re: How does weather change your driving?

Postby TheInsanity1234 » Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:07 pm

Astraist wrote:I am actually surprised to hear that in a rain-abundant Britian, drivers still have to adjust their driving or change it for rain.

Oi, cheeky! It doesn't rain that much in England :P

Astraist
Posts: 239
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:41 pm

Re: How does weather change your driving?

Postby Astraist » Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:15 pm

But it sure does rain more than it does here, and even down here rain is not such an issue in terms of driver behavior, which is the point I was suggesting.

Revian
Posts: 121
Joined: Thu Oct 01, 2015 4:58 pm
Location: Wirral

Re: How does weather change your driving?

Postby Revian » Thu Dec 03, 2015 6:35 pm

TheInsanity1234 wrote:
Astraist wrote:I am actually surprised to hear that in a rain-abundant Britian, drivers still have to adjust their driving or change it for rain.

Oi, cheeky! It doesn't rain that much in England :P

O yes it does.... And has been in the NW recently. Where do you think the Lake District gets its water.... Bottles? :D
Ian


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