Why are most of the population incapable of driving in the rain?!

adouglasmhor

Herzlos wrote: »

If you don't know how deep a puddle is then it's good practise to try and avoid it, as you don't know what's in it; potholes, chunks of rock, whatever, and could do a lot of damage if you hit something.

I always avoid going through large puddles forming at roadsides at speed, which means either slowing down or using the other lane.

A quick flash of full beam usually lets me see how deep a puddle is and any hazards in it, but I see people wait to go round puddles you can see in daylight right to the bottom of (often just surface water).
Then again I have commented before, on people in light coloured metallic finish cars who do not put on any lights and disappear in the spray on motorways etc.

In saying that I would rather people were cautious and drove to their ability and not beyond it, so rather than get uptight the odd slow driver I add a wee bit extra to my journey time and set of accordingly.

adouglasmhor

myhooose wrote: »

I always thought driving through deep puddles, you were at risk of warping your brake discs and damaging the catalylitic converter. Also the wheel arch liners can be displaced if driving quickly.

If your brakes were red hot maybe, cat convertor is sealed surely?
How fast is quickly?

warehouse

Some cars have an air intake underneath the engine, (eg Renault Scenic), so driving through a few inches of water at speed can wreck an engine and cause £1000's of damage.

Otherwise OP I'm with you, some people are pathetic in anything but perfect conditions.

myhooose

adouglasmhor wrote: »

If your brakes were red hot maybe, cat convertor is sealed surely?
How fast is quickly?

I assumed it was to do with thermal shock on the catalytic converter, It was just what I heard somewhere, though it could just be an urban myth.

I've seen a the wheel arch liners come loose on a colleauges company car, and yes he was going at a rate of knots.

adouglasmhor

Catalytic converters sometimes die because of thermal failure. Too much raw fuel hits the catalyst and burns in the catalytic converter instead of burning in the car's engine. This overheats the catalytic converter and the first part to melt is the ceramic monolith. This causes exhaust path blockage, which weakens the engine. Mechanics can tell that the catalytic converter was fried by looking at the colour of its outer shell.

Nothing about puddles there.
I have driven though deep puddles many times and never had a problem with a cat convertor after (in a Fiat Uno, a couple of escorts, a fiesta, a rover,and a V70), I live in North Glasgow and there are plenty of roads which flood every time we get a bit of heavy rain.

tiff

I experienced the same in Bristol today, I blame it on the school run mums! (I am one)

myhooose

adouglasmhor wrote: »

Nothing about puddles there.
I have driven though deep puddles many times and never had a problem with a cat convertor after (in a Fiat Uno, a couple of escorts, a fiesta, a rover,and a V70), I live in North Glasgow and there are plenty of roads which flood every time we get a bit of heavy rain.

Agreed, thinking about it if catalytic converters were prone to fail due to cold thermal shock, I'm sure many many people would have had failures by now. However if the public perception is that they can be damaged though deep water, it may explain some of the delays the OP was having this morning.

Horizon81

SailorSam wrote: »

I don't think changing your driving to suit the conditions should be described as being timid.

Hear hear. The OP is obviously your average misguided selfish oaf. People should drive to the conditions. It took me longer to get to work this morning as well but thats because most people were being more cautious in the rain, slowing down for puddles/floods across the road and leaving a bigger braking distance.

rtho782

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Commutes are hell now wherever you live, dreadful public transport and overpopulated country (increasing constantly and will continue) means it will only get worse....one answer is to get working hours changed where possible to stagger journey times.

I agree, this is why I usually decide to start at 8 rather than 9, but bed was just too comfy this morning

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Rains slows traffic down but it may not just be timidity, i manage to negotiate standing water with a 6 axle lorry without splashing pedestrians and maintain progress because i adjust speed and road postion to account...whilst i often see cars and other vehicles in front of and behind me almost drown those nearby by ignorantly driving through standing water at speed.

The centre of Bristol was mostly puddle free, the problems were on the B3130 and A370 (although the A370 has been gridlocked for 6 weeks anyway because the council take 2 months to resurface 20 metres of bridge) where there are no footpaths and pedestrians. I guess people didn't want to splash the poor trees?

rtho782

Horizon81 wrote: »

Hear hear. The OP is obviously your average misguided selfish oaf. People should drive to the conditions. It took me longer to get to work this morning as well but thats because most people were being more cautious in the rain, slowing down for puddles/floods across the road and leaving a bigger braking distance.

There is a difference between adjustinng to suit conditions, which I'm all for - I certainly wouldn't be driving as fast, and would be leaving larger gaps and not braking as hard, and driving at 10-15mph and performing an emergency stop when you spot a puddle in front of you that you hadn't noticed, or suddenly swerving around it.

Braking distances are much longer in the wet, so I leave a much larger gap. If I hadn't this morning, I'd have gone into the back of the Rav4 that decided to perform an emergency stop when it saw a puddle on a bend.

Erratic behaviour isn't changing driving to suit conditions.

~Your "Average Misguided Selfish Oaf"