I just received an email on this, and it's something I've never really thought about even though I've been driving for 25 years now. I just wanted to share it with everyone as a reminder to be cautious when driving, especially in wet weather.
NEVER KNEW THIS BEFORE...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 hydro-plane 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 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 when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take o ff 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 a similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe injuries.
If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life.
NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.
Here's the link to the page on Snopes.com that verifies this information as well, if you're interested: http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/wetroad.asp
[question posted by Katlady2]
responses and comments:
Hi! Thanks for sharing that bit of information. I don't drive much around, I get my husband to drive me especially in bad weather conditions, but I will let him know about this. Cheers! [moolahmagnet]
Lucky you! You have your own personal chauffeur....for free! LOL Thanks hon. [Katlady2]
I knew that already based on experience. I love my cruise control but know when not to use it. [blackbriar]
Good for you hon. Sometimes, experience is the best teacher, isn't it? Hugs! [Katlady2]
Thank you so much for posting this! I think it is neat that the Toyota Sienna doesn't allow you to use cruise control. [Songbird425]
I thought that was pretty cool too. I think more vehicles should come equipped with that feature. Thanks hon. [Katlady2]
I don't think I have ever heard about this before..I wouldn't think to use the cruise control in the rain due to the constant slowing down and such..It wouldn't be practical to use it...thanks for the information.. [Feona1962]
I'm guilty of using it during the wet weather. But after reading this, I won't ever do it again! Hugs! [Katlady2]
Not wanting to sound bad...but this is what you get by letting the car do everything.... I'm from Portugal, and here, we still have 90% of the cars with manual gears, and there aren't, still, many cars with cruise control. And beside that, we have to have 30lessons with a instructor before we can get ours drivers license. And they warn us to what we should do when is raining and others special situations!! So now you know, never use cruise control, and if you ever get your car to hydro-plane never accelerate, and also, never brake, because it's as dangerous as accelerating!!! kisses [catnun]
That is so very true! And wonderful advice as well. Thank you so much hon. Hugs to you. [Katlady2]