After a long spell of hot dry weather, it’s often broken by heavy storms which can significantly change road surfaces. Road surfaces will become lethal due to the build-up of oil, rubber and other debris leading to far less tyre grip. You may notice that as soon as it rains, puddles and the road surface will have what appears to be soap suds caused by vehicles’ tyres mixing oil and rubber with the water – this will be an illustration of the lack of grip.

 

The Advice

  • Extend following distances – allow more space as braking will become lethal
  • Cornering – take roundabouts slower and slow down more than usual for rural bends
  • Acceleration – apply the acceleration progressively – the accelerator should only be applied to maintain speed when cornering, not to increase speed
  • Braking – apply the brakes early to give following traffic early warning of your slowing down by showing brake lights. Braking should be progressive
  • Steering – steering input should be smooth and gradual. Avoid placing excessive lateral loads when cornering as an oversteer skid is difficult to control

 


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