Some experiences of safe driving in stormy conditions

The rainy season often causes many obstacles for traffic participants, especially for those who use cars.

However, when you have to participate in traffic, you need to pay attention to the following things when driving in thunderstorms to be able to drive safely on the road.

Check the route before driving

Be careful and check the condition of your vehicle before departure, check the weather forecast for long trips and check your route to ensure that the road you are travelling is smooth and free of obstacles such as flooded roads or traffic jams.

Turn off devices that are not really needed

When traveling in stormy/thunderous conditions, you should turn off the entertainment system to avoid electrical short circuits and electrical fires.

To drive safely, you should also turn off the air conditioner because turning on the air conditioner when it rains will cause moisture to appear on the car windows, making it difficult to see.

Reduce speed, avoid sudden braking

Heavy rain reduces the visibility of drivers even though the wipers are working at full capacity but still do not improve. To limit the bad situation from happening, you should reduce the driving speed, control your speed and limit sudden braking because when it rains, the road is very slippery, easy to skid when braking suddenly.

Wind direction tracking

When it rains and thunderstorms, in addition to flooding, there are also strong winds. Strong winds sweeping under the vehicle will affect the control and braking of the vehicle. At this time, because the strong winds do not blow continuously, you need to actively hold the steering wheel firmly to avoid losing control and causing an accident.

Ensure safe distance between vehicles

The safe distance between vehicles when driving in stormy weather conditions is at least 50m for highways and 2-5m in urban areas. In particular, you should absolutely not drive parallel to other vehicles, especially larger vehicles such as buses, trucks, etc.

Keeping this distance helps avoid other vehicles splashing water on the windshield, making it difficult to see and potentially causing unpredictable dangers.

Maintain engine speed

One driving skill you need to know is to shift the car to a lower gear when driving in the rain, because when running in a lower gear, the car's traction will be high and it will be easy to overcome obstacles on the road, easily accelerate when needed. What's more special is that it prevents water from entering the exhaust pipe, causing the car to stall in the middle of the road.

Always on lights

When it's stormy and visibility is limited, you should turn on your low beams, fog lights, and hazard lights to make it easier for vehicles to see you.

Pay attention to avoid flooded areas.

This will help you estimate the water level and determine whether your car can safely cross.

The safe level of water to cross will depend on the ground clearance of the vehicle you are driving. Therefore, knowing the parameters of the vehicle is also something that car owners need to pay attention to.

Do not open the car door when the flood water level is high.

When the road is flooded, the water level is above the door, you should not open the car door, when opening the car door, water will rush in, very easily damaging the car engine and the interior of the car.

Do not try to restart the engine when driving on a flooded road and it stalls.

If the car stalls while driving on a flooded road, remember never to try to restart the engine, water will enter the engine through the intake manifold, causing the connecting rod to bend, the connecting rod to break, and in many cases, the engine block to break.

Save the rescue number

You need to find out about reputable car rescue places and save their numbers so that when an emergency occurs, you can call the rescue team to solve the problem quickly and effectively.