I wonder how many people know about this?
A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car. A resident of Kilgore, Texas, she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydroplane and literally flew through the air.
She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!
When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should know -
NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON. She had thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the
rain.
But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on and your car begins to hydroplane when your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed and you take off like an airplane. She told the
patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.
The patrolman said this warning should be listed, on the driver's seat sun-visor - NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY, along with the airbag warning. We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use the cruise control only when the pavement is dry.
The only person the accident victim found, who knew this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had had a similar accident, totaled his car and sub stained severe injuries.
I heard about not using cruise control in the winter time when we got our new car 2 years ago...it's the first car we own with cruise control and we were told right away about this!
ReplyDeleteI"ve never heard of that so I asked the husband and he said he hasn't either. Thanks for enlightening us!
ReplyDeleteI think your advice is for front wheel drive cars.
ReplyDeleteRear wheel cars will do a tailspin instead of flying.
I went around a couple of times on the Interstate going about 60 when it started (on a rainy day--not snow in Houston).
..
I heard this from a friend on the internet about a year ago so never use my cruise when it is raining.
ReplyDeleteI never turn on cruise... but thanks for the warning. I'll pass it on. We have a lot of rain up here in the Pacific Northwest. :~)
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this. I would of never know about cruise control and rain if you hadn't. I'll bet not many others have heard this either.
ReplyDelete