Come on, though. Assuming the OP is not exaggerating – and I doubt he is, based on the stupid shit I’ve seen – 80+ in heavy downpour? I don’t care what kind of tires you have on your vehicle, that’s hazardous driving, and illegal. Stopping or quickly decelerating, without losing control or smashing into shit, in those conditions is a hell of a lot more difficult the higher your speed. And given the fact that there are generally more accidents when weather turns inclement suddenly, it’s damn reasonable to slow it down anticipating a potential problem ahead.
I don’t disagree … the courteous and proper thing to do would be to reduce speed, but I am simply stating facts. The treaded tires of a larger truck or SUV are inherently designed to grip when wet where standard road tires begin to lose adhesion. The treading and knobbing on an offroad tire reduces fuel efficiency and adds drag but provides incredible traction on uneven or wet surfaces because they are not designed like passenger car tires such as the Eagle RS-A’s, a.k.a “some of the best rain tires ever invented”. They’re probably among the worst tires ever invented.
Conversely, most road tires tend to grip better when dry than truck tires do. There are trade offs to each and there is no such thing as a perfect tire for all conditions, which is why all-seasons are a joke. Combine this with the fact that many vehicles with offroad or heavy duty tires are also driven at both axles for even more grip, and it’s not hard to understand their wet advantage.
Not trying to defend inconsiderate or unsafe driving here, but it’s easy to point the finger at the trucks that seem to be going too fast for conditions. The thing is that most of them can handle it, and on the flip side of the coin, they probably feel the vehicles that aren’t keeping pace are going too slow for conditions. I’ve been in both positions, and that is the harsh reality of the situation.
The worst thing about this sort of stupidity is that we get rain like that all the time. This is Florida, for God’s sake. All summer long, we get violent thunderstorms.
They really should be used to driving in the rain, but they just plow on through like it’s not happening. I’m convinced my life is going to end during some torrential downpour on I-4 on my way to Orlando.
Not to take away from the rest of the rant, which I can get onboard with after seeing people fly past me in extremely heavy fog, but if you’re hydroplaning, SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. I hydroplaned once, on a curving overpass for a couple seconds and it was one of the more frightening driving experiences I’ve ever had. There’s little as frightening as realizing you have no control over your vehicle. You complain about the people flying past you, but it sounds like you yourself were going too fast.
While we’re complaining about people driving too fast/slow, can we add in people who drive into deep water with no idea of how deep it is? Seems like any time we get a heavy rain, some fool driver drowns by trying to drive through deep water.
I agree that most people drive poorly, but I am curious about rainy weather driving and accidents.
I only drive motorcycles (and the occasional rental car), and while I notice other people driving like idiots, it seems the same as when the weather is decent. I also race motorcycles and ride track. If it is raining when we show up on a track day, there isn’t any refund. You just ride in the rain. However, we have FEWER accidents when it is rainy out then when it is not. Here is the link to Keigwins who runs the trackdays I ride for and mentions this under “general info” section. Scroll down to RAIN
My question is this, is it really true that more accidents occur during the rain, or is this just anecdotal evidence that is different from reality? Or is it really only dangerous to cars? Which doesn’t seem to make ANY sense to me. Or is the problem really that I’m comparing a group of well trained and knowledgeable people on high performance machines to general jackasses in bald, poorly inflated tires? I can still turn in times well within my class on a rainy day, so the traction loss can’t be too great.
Anyone have any real stats for rainy accidents vs. non-rainy?
Missed the edit window. Forgot to add, I am aware that CA weather is always pretty mild and while it rains here, it almost never could be described as a ‘downpour.’ Maybe stats from somewhere else with a mild sort of climate?
Lacking the time to do any real research, I found a paper here discussing the effects of summer precipitation in the Chicago metro area:
I specifically phrased my argument that accidents become more prevalent when rain comes suddenly, i.e., summer storms or a day or two of rain after a period of dry weather. Same thing happens in winter when the first good snow hits. Everyone knows it’s coming, but it’s like the forgot how to drive in it since the last time they did several months ago.
My favorite story of this type came from a coworker. Snowstorm, he’s driving cautiously in his little econobox down the sort-of-highway that is the northern end of Rt 17 in NJ. Fellow in an SUV, natch, flies right by him, like the road is perfectly clear. Cue the inevitable spin out followed by coming to rest quite near to an overpass column. Coworker cruises on by, notices the white-knuckle near hyperventilation of the driver and figures he’s learned his lesson.
The SUV passes him again a few minutes later. :smack:
Motorcycles are different. How hard are you going to push in a knee-slider when it’s raining?
Obviously, you go more slowly.
That’s the OP’s point- that these people need to slow the eff down.
Man, you assume a lot. Any tire no matter how good will hydroplane given enough water and sufficient speed. In any event, no I’m not driving with “econo-Eagles”, they didn’t come with the car (I ditched the crappy all-weather ones which did within 3 months after I bought the car), In any event HERE is the tire I use-note the very high wet weather ratings. I spent several days on the Tirerack site carefully deciding on which ones to get, weighing ratings and comments, before I dropped my money on the Eagles, and have never regretted it. I’ve driven them on the track (in the dry) on a few occasions and they grip like they are on rails, and hardly ever slip and slide in the wet. These of course are crap in the snow, but we haven’t had snow in Florida (significant amounts) in 20 years. I simply was erring a bit on the side of caution (going 60-65 in a 70 zone) after I felt her get a little loose when I went through some 1-2" water, and don’t appreciate the presumptuous comments. I doubt any of these “expert” SUV drivers would ever recognize the signs of hydroplaning if they drove for a million years, and I don’t think I was the problem out there.
And in response to Achren’s statement, I DID slow down AND drove in the dry groove, when I was on older asphalt and endless convoys of trucks had worn two depressions in the lane, I just moved over a couple of feet and drove on the high part.
This just reminded me I need Rain-X like a mofo. I also need new front tires, but I can’t afford those.
It’s inevitable that any time anyone complains about SUVs or other people’s driving skills that someone is going to come in and comment about how their SUV is modified to be 100% safer than any other car on the market, and how their driving skills are good enough for them to go 120 miles per hour on a track made out of WET ICE! and you’re just a nervous nelly who shouldn’t be allowed on the grown-ups’ highways.
Hitler slowed down when it rained, you know.
Everybody drives like shit, except me.
:rolleyes:
Good to hear. With this new info I retract my earlier advice/tirade. Drive on.
Sorry, I can’t help myself, and I know what you mean, but that’s worded too funny not to point out. :smack:
What you are failing to consider is that some SUVs come equipped with standard anchor.
Or so I’ve come to believe by watching many a driver here.
I hydroplaned once, about a block and a half from my house. It was at an intersection where the freeway exit meets a busy street (Flamingo, in Vegas) and I just slid right through the red light with no way to stop. It was like a nightmare, when you suddenly realize that nobody is actually driving but you’re going 50 miles an hour.
I wasn’t hurt, but it was the most terrifying driving experience I’ve ever had. I’ve always taken driving conditions seriously since then.
God, I hate that slow-motion second that feels like it lasts about 10 minutes…it’s like you can see exactly how everything is going to happen but you can’t do a damn thing about it.