Rainy Days and Driving

It is that time of year again when we could definitely expect some rain for a change. Living here in California (CA), we normally dont get a lot of rain. There are so much sunny days in CA, probably almost the same number days that Washington State have rainy days. I heared that it could rain and drizzle in Washington almost everyday for months. In contrary, CA is the exact opposite, just like Florida, CA should also be called the Sunshine State. And with limited rainy days, we could really use some rain too, and that is why the two (2) days rain yesterday and today (Dec 6 and 7), are much needed in most part of CA.

But when it is raining it is harder to go out and drive specially in the dark. Some of the road lines that wore out could really use some re-painting so that they would be more visible in a rainy days too. Roads are more slippery when wet, so it would be safer if we all remember to slow than a little bit. Driving in the night in the rain was even harder when an incoming traffic would not be considerate enough to change their high beams to low beams, specially when they noticed that others are trying to be considerate to them and put on low beams so they wont get blinded by the bright lights.

For safe driving for everyone specially in rainy and snowy situations , hopefully we all try to be more attentive with the road condition, and try to remember the road rules for safety driving and be considerate to others who are using the same road as you:

When you are driving with somebody in front of you, use low beam so that your bright light wont cause reflections in the car in front of you
Do not use high beams when it is foggy
Slow down your speed, usually 5 miles slower than the speed limit when its raining, and even slower when it is snowing
Change from high beam to low beam when you notice ahead that there is an incoming car so that they could see the road too

Driving yesterday and today in the rain, so far, these are some of the basics that I think some drivers forgot, they might not be aware of it but they do affect other drivers, who use the same roads.

Last night, we passed by police cars in the road side trying to assist somebody who probably misjudged the road condition, or it was slippery and the car slipped, or probably went too far over the white lines and ended up in the shoulder and rolled the car in the field. We didnt know what really happened but hopefully accident like this can be avoided by trying to be more cautious with the current weather condition and drive safely and carefully. Winter times is tough driving with more challenging conditions like rainy, snowy, and block ices. Drive safely and be considerate to other drivers.

Written by JAZEVOX. All Rights Reserved.