Facts : Wet Weather

Introduction

The weather also has an effect on a vehicle's ability to stop quickly. The water on the roads surface reduces the grip that the tyres have on the road, and in the worst cases this will result in the vehicle skidding.

Bad weather can cause accidents, although by ensuring that you drive to the conditions you can reduce the chances of being involved in one.

The Simulator and Wet Weather

During rainy conditions, and afterwards when there is water on the road, the car will have less grip on the road surface. The slippery road surface will result in more skids and increased braking distances.

In the simulator, the grip that the vehicle has with the road was reduced to show how the braking distance will increase in wet weather.

Reduced visibility can decrease visibility on the road as well, and it may also take longer to spot other road users, although this has not been factored into the thinking distance in the simulator.

Tips For Driving In The Wet

Whilst the weather itself is a factor out of a drivers control, there are many things which you can do in order to make driving in the wet safer for yourself and those around you.

• Use a safe speed for the conditions. Whilst the speed limit will inform you of the maximum speed for the road, in hazardous circumstances it can be dangerous to drive at the limit. You can reduce your speed to give you more time to make observations, and reduce your braking distance.

• Leave more space between yourself and the vehicle in front. Braking distances are increased and so you need to ensure you have plenty of space to brake into.

Vehicles will also create spray in the wet and you need to ensure that this does not restrict your visibility.

• Remember that other road users may not see you. The reduced visibility may effect how other road users see your vehicle too, and you should not assume that they have spotted you. When you spot another vehicle, always try to plan what you would do if they manoeuvred or pulled out, because they had not seen you.

• Give cyclists and motorcyclists plenty of room. They may need to move out or manoeuvre to avoid large puddles or drain covers.

• Regularly check the tread depth of your tyre. This is something that you should do frequently, especially in the winter when you are more likely to get caught in the rain. Tyre tread helps to remove water from in between the tyre and the road surface, and the greater the tread depth, the greater the volume of water it can remove.

The legal bare minimum tread depth is 1.6mm around the circumference of the tyre, but RoSPA recommend that you change your tyres once the tread depth is down to 3mm.