I live in metro Melbourne and rarely drive in regional areas.
Today, I was driving on the Hume Freeway, and the rain was significant at times. Even though I felt it is quite unsafe to drive at the normal speed (110km/h), most drivers seemed to care less. I felt that I might lose grip. I ended up driving around 95-100km/h on the left lane to see vehicles piling behind me before overtaking.
What would you do in these conditions?
I would also like to add lighter vehicles at speed are worse (considering both vehicles have same tyres).
I was driving a work ute at 40km/h along a gravel road, had just rained a bit in the morning and I just tapped the breaks and ended up in the ditch. Single cab ute that light combined with loose gravel and literally no ESC, thin ute utility tyres completely useless.
Whereas, driving a heavy suv with wide road tyres and wallet breaking continental rubber feels a lot different especially in the wet.
there's really no problem driving at speed limit in rain, especially on wide freeways like Hume. Not a whole lot of cars near by, lanes are generously wide and straight.
In small to moderate rain. Just turn on your lights which a lot of drivers with no automatic lights seem to forget. have a car with esc, wipers on, dont stay too close to a car in front that's splashing water, and probably most importantly, demist your windscreen when foggy. After that it's just cruise and business as usual. Its so easy nowadays with adaptive cruise and lane assist.
Though you might need a bit more care when rain is a lot bigger, have more cars around or you're driving a light car with high centre of gravity. Driving to the condition as they call it.
Any recommendations for good value tyres that are safe in the wet?
Kumho are good but the cost depends on your vehicle type. My hatchback was $160 a tyre, my AWD was more like $230 a tyre.
Thanks. I have a Subaru Forester, can see some inside wear on at least one tyre, kid is about to go for their Ps soon so want to ensure the tyres are reliable.
Speed limits are in place to accommodate for low
skilled drivers in low condition driving. The govt feels confident that old grandad who can't remember your name can drive to beach road at 80kph down the nepean for his coffee every morning, and that's the end of this debate.
More so, why do people sit in the right lane doing under the speed limit in all conditions?
The slower you drive, the less likely you are to have an accident. Duhh
Let's make suburban speed limits 10kmh
Hoon!
0km/hr = 0 road deaths
i drive 5-10km slower and extra space in front.
I try to drive to the conditions. Coming back from the central coast to Northern beaches, on Saturday. I was driving around 10km under more when it got heavy/lot of water on road etc etc. Some people have NFI, and one wrx about a minute or so in front of me (after he shot passed me), found the wall. They were ok, car gone. Range rove flew passed me and as they went by, did a little aqua planing wiggle, but kept on going at his speed.
Op I recommend watching the Dash Cam Owners Australia YouTube channel to get a broad understanding of what happens on Australian roads. Contains many videos of accidents happening in the wet and dry. Overall a highly valuable resource providing viewers insight and foresight on how to survive on the road.
Also a good way to get a phobia of being on the road.
A phobia? Really? Should look at it as more of an instructional tool on how to avoid being a bad driver lol
Scott's Car Cameras is probably the most another (mod: edited) popular Australian dash cam video site on YouTube. Shows how many bad drivers there are on the roads. Not just in wet weather. Just be mindful of the blue language some of the Aussie camera posters use.
How is that channel more popular than Dash Cam Owners Australia exactly??? What metric are you going off?
g12345567 AKA Scott - click here to like my vids :))
Dash Cam Owners Australia has more than 8 times as many channel subscribers than Scotts.
Thanks for hours of entertainment lol. Didn't even know these channels existed.
Ehhh why no below speed option
it's all fun and games till you aquaplane
I think the OP's premise comes down to fact that people cannot use personal judgement and if they do, they could be punished for it.
If people see 60, they do 60 no matter what.
Second nature to me i guess. Grew up and drove somewhere with 2000-2500mm annual rainfall.
Doesn't matter what car you have, wet conditions will decrease any vehicles ability to stop or corner. Even if you have the best car or think you are the best driver in the world more accidents occur in the wet than the dry. Its simple drive to the conditions problem is some people don't understand that. The one that gets me is people who don't slow down when it's foggy if you can't stop in the distance you can see your going too fast.
i agree with what 2esc said just above it doesn't matter what car you have or if you are a good driver , the most important thing is to drive to the conditions.
[Example] if it is absolutely bucketing down rain on the highway and the speed limit is 110
[90% of what's required to successfully navigate highway speeds confidently in inclement weather is done before you even turn the key to set off]
ensure your tyres are pumped up correctly (at least to the manufacturer specified level as a rule of thumb) , this will ensure you have the most grip and traction possible whilst retaining comfort
check your tyres tread level , they need to have enough so that they can safely disperse water at speed, especially if you hit a puddle. if they are on or below the tread wear indicator then its time for a replacement.
run the best set of tyres you can afford for the style of driving you mostly do as they are the only thing keeping you and/or your passengers safely planted to the ground all year round. the following are recommendations only
•if you mostly drive on highway or are a long distance driver then a set of Touring tyres are applicable
•if you drive in stop-go traffic or short distance conditions Eco or All Season tyres are applicable
•if you have a high performance vehicle or like to often drive on twisty roads/unsealed roads then a higher grip/traction tyre is warranted , then a sporty UHP or UUHP tyre is applicable
4.Clean your car's windscreen inside and out from time to time , visibility is key when it comes to driving and it will assist your confidence and will give you additional time to react
5.[Optional suggestion] - Once your exterior windscreen is clean , apply a product called Rain-X (original) which you can get from most Auto Stores , it will bead water droplets on your screen to a size of a grain of sand and once you are going at highway speeds it basically disperses the water off your screen without usage of windscreen wipers (if weather is really bad you should still use your wipers). it increases visibility immensely which helps with reaction times and stopping distances.
The last 10% comes from having a better understanding that when you are driving ..
….other drivers on the road
(A) Might be more confident then you (or stupid , or both) or Might be less vision impaired then yourself (better vision , better capability) or are more prepared then yourself (see above , points 1-4)
(B) Do not have the same equipment with the same capability as you - there are many cars on the road that are lighter , have better braking capability , better tyres. However at the same time there are thousands upon thousands of cars that are quite the opposite , heavier , tyres on their way out , brakes that need replacing but the owner can't afford it. (food for thought)
(C) If things go wrong , they can go wrong very quickly especially in the wet and even with a superb reaction time the chance of success to bring a car back in control at highway speeds in wet weather is far beyond the capability of most.
Drive to the conditions doesn't mean you have to slow down below the speed limit , it just means to use some common sense whilst driving and be prepared for the unexpected
Its only happened once in my lifetime i found it was raining that heavy I pulled over for 5 minutes for it to ease and the visibility to improve. People were still flying past. A klm up the road a 4 car collision which the local lady in blue put down to aqua planning.
Think it depends on the car. I've got an 11 year old i30. Can barely see anything when it's raining so I drive slower. I've also got a 4 year old SUV, can see everything easily when it's raining so I drive at the posted speed.