Good Motoring
Drive slow on wet roads
H. Kishie Singh 

THE monsoons have arrived. This means we will be driving on the wettest roads in the world. Adding to the water will be mud, slush and, maybe, even snow in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. It is time to offer a prayer to the "tyre devta," who will be your only contact with Mother Earth. A good set of tyres is essential. It will provide traction, good braking and cornering. All of which are important to keep your car on the road in a safe and secure condition.

After a long day’s drive, when the wipers have been hard at work, the windscreen can be almost opaque, except for the area swept by the wiper blades. Visibility is almost nil through the unswept area. The area is coated with mud and slush. This is true of your headlights also. The lens can have a coating of mud, and you can have a loss of illumination of up to 70 per cent. The accompanying photograph shows how a coating of mud can render the headlights ineffective.

Unless you have a headlight washer provided by the manufacturers, you have no option but to manually wash the headlights just before sun down. On wet roads, with rain and low visibility, strong headlights are a must. As you wash your headlights, remember to top up the windshield water bottle. It is essential in keeping the windshield clean. While driving long distances on wet roads, especially through puddles, pump your brakes to dry them out. Brake failure due to wet conditions is a constant threat to drivers. See and be seen.

Keep the headlights of your vehicle on even during the day to make sure others see you. These should be on low beam so that you don’t blind the on-coming drivers. Reducing speed increases your safety immensely. On a wet road, braking distances increase. A lower speed will help you stop in time. Keep well behind the vehicle in front. Also, keep in mind that road conditions will change every few kilometres. They cannot stay constant. Compensate for these ever changing road conditions.

You, the driver, are sitting in a warm or A/C cabin, comfortable and protected from the elements. The pedestrian, cyclist, rickshaw-puller, maybe a dog or two, are looking out for themselves — eyes half closed, shielding themselves against the rain. They may not see you. It is your duty to look out for them and give them priority.

There is one aspect of driving that catches even the most experienced drivers unawares. A skid. It happens suddenly and without a warning. On a wet road, chances of a skid increase many times. How does it happen? A skid almost invariably starts in the front wheels. Throwing the steering wheel left or right will destabilise the car. A skid happens when some slippery substances like snow, ice, mud, leaves or oil come under the tyres. This breaks the tyres contact with the road.

What to do? If your car skids and faces left, steer left into the direction of the skid. This brings all four wheels into line. Do not brake. This will only aggravate maters. Worn- out tyres will definitely skid. There is another danger on water-logged roads: aquaplaning. There is an intricate pattern of cuts in your tyres. They are designed to shed water.

When you drive on a wet road, there is a tendency for the water to prevent complete contact with the road. These cuts act as drains and clear the water. In the case of aquaplaning, the water does not drain out. This creates a thin film of water between the tyres and the road. The steering becomes completely useless. Do not brake. Take your foot off the accelerator.

As the car slows down, the weight of the car will settle it down, and you will regain control of the situation. The best remedy is to drive slow. There can be puddles of water on the road. Drive slowly through them. You don’t know how deep they are, and a deep puddle/pot hole can hurt your tyre and rim, and splashing water all around is not recommended.

Finally, test your brakes regularly. Water can reduce the effectiveness of brakes, increasing stopping distances. It is great fun driving in the rain, but you must exercise extreme caution.

Happy motoring

Driving steady in the monsoons is the best and safest way to get home