The last of the warm weather has finally departed, leaving the UK with blustering wind and torrential downpours – a combination that make driving on the roads potentially hazardous.<\/p>\n
It doesn’t matter if you know the area you’re driving in like the back of your hand or you’re relying heavily on tour satnav – everyone can get caught out during heavy downpours as modern road surfaces are made treacherous by standing water.<\/p>\n
Even small puddles of rain can create a potential aquaplaning hazard and can lead to reduced visibility for the driver, which means its really important to drive safely during wet conditions.<\/p>\n
Driving fast can cause your tyres to lose contact with the road, leading you to lose control of the steering. This is called aquaplaning and if it happens, hold the steering wheel lightly and lift the throttle until the tyres have regained grip of the road.<\/p>\n
Darron Burness, head of special operation at the AA, advises: "If you come across flood water, you should only attempt to drive through if you know it's not too deep and maintain a steady, slow speed to avoid creating a bow wave."<\/p>\n
A small amount of water, even as little as an egg cupful, can cause damage it gets into the engine’s combustion chamber as a car’s air intake is typically very low down at the front. When this happens, the liquid does not compress and can cause the a con rod to bend or break in the piston.<\/p>\n
Mr Burness added: "If you're unlucky enough to break down in heavy rain, don't prop the bonnet open while you wait for the patrol to arrive – the engine will be more difficult to start again if the electrics are all rain-soaked. Instead, pull over to a safe and visible place and wait for help to arrive."<\/p>\n
Be safe and prepare for wet weather<\/strong><\/p>\n The most important thing a driver can do to combat the negative impact wet weather has on driving conditions is to be prepared.<\/p>\n Keep in mind the rules outlined in the Highway Code, which state that you must be use headlights when visibility is reduced – a scenario that is very likely when spray from driving through standing water hits your windscreen. Typically speaking, these should be switched on if you cannot see more than 100 metres ahead.<\/p>\n Making sure your car is regularly maintained will also help when driving in wet conditions, for example, replacing worn windscreen wipers will ensure you have maximum visibility even when rain is constantly lashing at your car.<\/p>\n Being overly cautious is also advisable when aquaplaning is a potential hazard. Drivers should leave extra distance between themselves and the car in front on top of the one metre for every one mile per hour of their speed, as suggested in the Highway Code.<\/p>\n If you notice that the steering has become unresponsive because of the heavy downpour, you should immediately ease of the accelerator and reduce your speed gradually until the issue subsides.<\/p>\n Driving through floods or standing water<\/strong><\/p>\n Floods and standing water present more hazards to a driver and their vehicle compared to rain and should be avoided if possible.<\/p>\n However, as this is not always the case, it’s important to know what to do when this situation arises. Firstly, you should only attempt to drive through water that you know isn’t too deep, which you can ascertain by getting out of the vehicle if necessary.<\/p>\n To avoid creating a bow wave, keep your speed to a minimum and allow oncoming traffic to pass first. As soon as you’ve passed the flooded patch of road, test your brakes to ensure they are in working order and have sustained no damage from the water.<\/p>\n You must avoid driving through fast-moving water, such as at a flooded bridge approach, as you could be swept away by the current – a situation that could easily become life-threatening.<\/p>\n Posted by Emma George<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The last of the warm weather has finally departed, leaving the UK with blustering wind and torrential downpours – a combination that make driving on the roads potentially hazardous. It doesn’t matter if you know the area you’re driving in like the back of your hand or you’re relying heavily on tour satnav – everyone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[531],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expert-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n