Let's Debunk The Idea That It's Not Safe To Use Cruise Control In The Rain
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Allstate also has a post on its website outlining the dangers of using cruise control in the rain and why you shouldn’t do it. The thin layer of filth over the surface of the water hinders traction when driving. However, there are some situations where you should not use cruise control, for instance, during the rainy season. It’s generally only accurate to within 3-5kph, so setting it to 107kph is a bad idea since you’ll likely occasionally exceed the police’s tolerance. In fact, the increased level of road hazards is also one of the main reasons drivers test get canceled during heavy downpours. Our 2023 Impact Report highlights how we partner with our customers and invest in our people and our organization to drive sustainability and positive impact.
How rain and snow affect cruise control operation
Rain prompts emergency lane closures on I-15 freeway Monday morning in Hesperia - Victor Valley News - VVNG
Rain prompts emergency lane closures on I-15 freeway Monday morning in Hesperia.
Posted: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Helping maintain a set miles per hour, this automatic system reduces fatigue on long highway trips. And adaptive cruise control enhances safety by maintaining a safe distance from surrounding vehicles. The next part of the argument is cornering and cruise control. Cruise control is simply a way of maintaining a set speed, it has no way of working out what’s on the road, what the corner’s like or whether you need to brake before the bend in the road. And that’s the key here, when you get behind the wheel of a car, it’s the driver who needs to control the brakes, throttle and steering.
Avoid the splash
However, you still shouldn’t use cruise control for the reasons I’ve shared in this post. The poor visibility, skidding, and traffic-related hazards that often accompany driving in the rain make using cruise control a dangerous idea. Neither conventional nor adaptive cruise control can detect hazards or road conditions, regardless of whether the weather is inclement or pleasant. Rain will likely affect your visibility, and cruise control might adversely affect your alertness, control, and reaction times. How much you slow down (or the reduced speed you set for cruise control) depends on your driving skills and the severity of the rain.
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Mark Reif has followed sports cars and auto racing since the early 80s, having read countless editions of Road & Track and Car & Driver and observed Formula 1, endurance racing, and the Indy 500. After earning a bachelor’s in industrial design from Virginia Tech, Mark finds himself looking deep into car designs to better understand their style and function. Living in Vermont and serving as a snowboard instructor, he’s interested in versatile all-wheel drive vehicles that can handle snow and ice.
But, it’s the rain that is most dangerous for commercial drivers. Try to slow your vehicle by taking your foot off the accelerator earlier than you normally would in preparation to slow down or stop. Don’t use cruise control, so your attention on using both the gas and brake are in tune. That said, no cruise control system on the market today will just keep accelerating after any sort of control loss happens, and hydroplaning does not make you go faster until you fly off the road and crash into a Chipotle. This isn’t unique to one particular brand, this is how all cruise control systems work, and have worked since the widespread adoption of vehicle stability systems in the early 1990s. For that matter, though, even without the cruise engaged, high speed under the aforesaid conditions is dangerous in and of itself.
Why cruise control is bad during heavy rainfall - Fox Weather
Why cruise control is bad during heavy rainfall.
Posted: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Cruise control encourages “passive” driving and decreases alertness. HowStuffWorks provides a clear explanation of cruise control’s function. The system varies throttle inputs to maintain an even speed, using an actuator instead of an accelerator.
During the summer, grime, oil, and other debris accumulate on the roadways. Increment/decrement – Depending on the system and settings, you can normally add or remove 1, 5, or 10kph from the speed.
If this happens while you’re on cruise control, using the brakes might cause you to lose control and perhaps spin out. Plus, the wet road or terrain is unlikely to offer the firm grip your car or its tires have in normal conditions. Road grip and visibility are already major concerns when it’s raining. A delayed reaction time can be the difference between an accident and getting home safe.
Use Your Windshield Wipers
But inclement weather, like rain or snow, presents challenges best handled by attentive driver inputs. So, in those cases, it’s best to leave cruise control turned off. Still, in dry conditions, this feature makes highway travel an easier experience. 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.
On the other hand, rain and snow present unique driving challenges. With traction at a premium, wet or snowy conditions present car safety hazards and require focused driver inputs. But, in almost every scenario, it’s the driver’s responsibility to drive to the conditions, be they a corner, a dirt road, rain or heavy traffic. Blaming cruise control for your lack of attention, is like saying, the devil made me do it. So, let’s all take some responsibility for how we drive and call ‘time’ on the clickbait articles suggesting you can blame something else. The whole thing, no matter the mechanics of the system, is run through a cruise control computer which tells the cruise control when the car has reached the desired speed or when it’s falling away from the desired speed.
Such systems don’t decelerate if the vehicle in front slows due to any reason or when there’s an accident ahead in your lane. So, you will continue to cruise at a selected speed even if your car aquaplanes. The maximum a conventional cruise control feature may do is decelerate your car if it senses a faster speed than what you have selected.
Plus, there’s the risk of other vehicle drivers making poor decisions such as driving too fast or aggressively even though the roads are wet. An accident for one driver becomes a dangerous lane obstruction for many others. Cruise control is a great feature, especially on those long road trips, but make sure you keep an eye out for wet roads and rain. Wet roads are dangerous because the rainwater causes the oil and grease on the road to rise up to the top of the water.
Tire treads with a depth of 1.6 mm (0.06 inches) are highly vulnerable to hydroplaning. However, people often reduce the speed further during a torrential downpour or if visibility is a problem. Likewise, the road conditions will influence the speed at which they set their cruise control. On the roads, we’ll reiterate the importance of driving slower and testing brakes. Avoiding aggressive driving behaviors and signaling any lane changes well in advance can also help other drivers. After all, they’re going to need longer to react and are suffering visibility challenges too.
Hydroplaning is one of the most common car accidents in the rain because drivers can lose control. If your car hydroplanes, calmly take your foot off the accelerator and steer. You should steer in the direction that the front of your car wants to go. No. but you are legally and financially liable if you cause an accident by using cruise control in the rain.
Advice given in the Road Code for correcting skids is now outdated and dangerous. Using cruise control when driving in the rain, snow, hail, sleet, ice, and slippery roads can affect the system’s ability to maintain a constant vehicle speed. For example, cruise control set too fast on wet roads could cause the vehicle to hydroplane when it encounters standing water. Nonetheless, the warning inherent to the tale — don't engage your vehicle's cruise control on slippery or wet roads — is well worth heeding.
Likewise, winter driving carries with it a similar set of perils. Because the car has travelled around the corner too quickly and potentially lost grip and begun to either under- or oversteer, several vehicle safety systems will activate to keep the car pointing in the right direction. Traction and stability controls might activate, either killing engine power or braking individual wheels, or if fitted torque vectoring will activate and shuffle torque from the over-loaded wheels to those with grip. And, because all the systems are interlinked, cruise control will be killed.
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