There are of course increased risks to road users when it’s raining, particularly during heavy rainfall and when it’s also dark out.
Read our simple tips to know how to be a safer road user when driving in the rain.
Turn on your headlights when it starts to rain – even if it’s not dark, so no one can miss you, or you them. Often this is a requirement by law, for road users’ safety.
Be extra cautious of pedestrians. The rain impacts visibility and pedestrians are much more likely to rush across the road when it’s raining.
Maintain at least a 3 second gap between you and the vehicle in front of you. Increasing the gap in the rain allows you time to identify a hazard and respond to it in time, especially since rear-end collisions account for at least a quarter of all road accidents.
Don’t follow a bus or lorry too closely. This can impede on your vision of the road, as well as preventing the truck/ lorry from seeing you at all. Some vehicles in the blind spot of a bus or lorry can be completely missed.
In addition – when it’s raining, if you’re too close, the spray given off by larger vehicles can greatly impair your line of vision.
Try to avoid sudden movements. Driving in wet conditions is already hazardous, since the rain increases the risk of traction loss, so try not to use sudden motions that will possibly make you lose control of your vehicle.
Ideally and when necessary, avoid driving in heavy rain – the risk of hydroplaning puts you and other road users at an increased risk, when you cannot control your vehicle.
Drive slowly. Reducing your speed in wet weather reduces the likeliness of your car skidding/ sliding or crashing into another road user. With less than 1/12 inch of water on the road’s surface, tyres have to displace 3.79 litres of water per second to keep the rubber in contact with the road’s surface. Thus, motorists should drive slowly so that their speeds correspond with the amount of water on the roadway.