Avoiding an accident in bad weather \u2013 3 tips<\/p>\n
The Federal Highway Administration of the Department of Transportation reports that \u201cOn average, there are over 5,891,000 vehicle crashes each year. Approximately 21% of these crashes – nearly 1,235,000 – are weather-related. \u00a0\u00a0The vast majority of most weather-related crashes happen on wet pavement and during rainfall: 70% on wet pavement and 46% during rainfall.<\/p>\n
Each year there are 556,151 crashes caused by rain, of which 212,647 persons are injured and 2, 473 people are killed because of both rain and resulting wet pavement.\u00a0 These are preventable tragedies that affect us, our families, and our friends. (Source: https:\/\/ops.fhwa.dot.gov\/weather\/q1_roadimpact.htm)<\/p>\n
Even if it\u2019s only a fender bender, that takes up a lot of time. There\u2019s a police report, insurance paperwork, plus loss of your vehicle use during repairs.\u00a0 What if you had a travel schedule involved? \u00a0Frustration!<\/p>\n
Whether you may cause an accident or are involved in an accident can come down to 3 things:<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it, as we get older our reaction time decreases.\u00a0 If you have been driving for a few hours, you need to take some steps to increase your reaction time.\u00a0 Stop your vehicle every 2 hours and get up and stretch or walk around and check your rig.\u00a0 Keeping hydrated is important, and, if you are driving further, \u00a0enjoy the pick-up from a cup of coffee or tea, or, as many folks tell me, chew gum!<\/p>\n
Or use the opportunity to clean your entire windshield.\u00a0 You have certainly hit insects, you have dirt and grime from vehicle exhaust, bird droppings, etc.\u00a0 If rain or a thunderstorm occurs and you put on your wipers you are just smearing the mess, severely limiting your vision plus potentially harming the wiping edge of your wiper blades. (picture of smeared windshield)<\/p>\n
Why clean your entire windshield?\u00a0 Can you see clearly enough to make a right hand turn without hitting something?\u00a0 Someone on a bike, a pothole, cement barrier or curb, etc. \u00a0Why take that chance; it has happened.<\/p>\n
Keep in mind that rubber wiper blades are porous and rubber is very susceptible to corroding when exposed to sunlight, ice, and chemicals such as those in spray on glass cleaners or in your windshield washer fluid.\u00a0 Please read the warning labels.\u00a0 Avoid using your wipers over dried on bugs as this will harm the wiper edge.<\/p>\n
Remove the bug residue, bird droppings, smoke, etc. from your windshield safely from the ground, no ladder needed, with a reusable, chemical free Bugs Off Pad and water.\u00a0 This way you are not exposing your vehicle or yourself to chemicals, and the Bugs Off Pads are the only product on the market that totally remove both the bug body and the embedded residue along with the other acidic residues from smoke, bird droppings, vehicle exhaust, etc. \u00a0They are also the only product sold that you can use on all vehicle surfaces, such as the painted body, plastics, and the windshield, while easily lasting longer than 200 to 300 bottles of glass cleaner.\u00a0 https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com<\/p>\n
The amount of tread and your tire pressure are both equally important for stopping ability.\u00a0 Good tire tread depth will be 6\/32 or deeper. If the depth is 4\/32, you should start thinking of replacing your tires and getting new ones. 2\/32 (the legal minimum) or less means that you should change your tires ASAP<\/strong>. The amount of tire tread can affect your stopping distance, making a drive in wet conditions more dangerous as they will tend to hydroplane (skid) when the brakes are applied. Low tire pressure alters the tire’s contact patch with the road, reducing grip and traction.\u00a0 Before traveling check that your tires adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendations for the load carried.\u00a0 An extra 3 to 5 feet of stopping distance can mean the difference between a safe stop or hitting the vehicle in front of you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Avoiding an accident in bad weather \u2013 3 tips The Federal Highway Administration of the Department of Transportation reports that \u201cOn average, there are over 5,891,000 vehicle crashes each year. Approximately 21% of these crashes – nearly 1,235,000 – are weather-related. \u00a0\u00a0The vast majority of most weather-related crashes happen on wet pavement and during rainfall: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":118,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugsoffpads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}