When summer is approaching, the longer days and warmer weather offer an excellent opportunity to enjoy your car on the open road. However even though the threat of extreme bad weather has passed, there are still potential hazards on the roads that can easily catch out an unprepared driver.
In the summer the warm temperatures and relative lack of rain to wash the roads can allow the level of small debris particles to build up on the surface. Typically this debris is made up of dust, oil and rubber from passing vehicles and after long periods without rain, the road can easily become increasingly slippery.
These slippery conditions can worsen after a brief period of rain, when all of the detritus on the road surface mixes with the standing water and the road becomes even more slippery than you would normally expect.
If you are driving after rainfall and the weather has increased in heat you should be cautioned that braking needs to change. You will need more distance to stop. You also need to consider reducing your speed when you go around curves since the grip of the wheels will be less.
Asphalt will be slicker after hot and dry conditions. The surface as it heats becomes polished. Vehicles help to increase this heated condition on well travelled roads.
Whilst the hot weather allows a keen driver the opportunity to enjoy the potential of their vehicle on a dry road in warm conditions, the climate and time of year also brings out a number of holiday drivers many of whom will be towing caravans. Whilst these holiday drivers can often temporarily disrupt an enjoyable drive, it is important to stay calm and not become irate with them, as they have just as much right to use the road as yourself.
Be aware that many of these drivers will have been travelling for long distances, on roads they are unfamiliar with, possibly distracted by their children or satellite navigation. Be prepared for them to make unexpected manoeuvres without signalling, and factor this into your decision when deciding whether it is appropriate to overtake them, and remember you easily come across a slow moving vehicle mid way through a blind bend.
Modern vehicles come with daylights which turn on even when it is sunny out. Running lights during the day in summer has been researched, which is one reason daylights are now on modern cars. It was determined that having lights in the daytime reduces collisions and accidents by 12 percent. Factors like sun glasses, spotty shaded areas, and the summer sun makes leaving your lights on safer for other drivers to see you and you to see them.
Tags: Rainfall, Cars, Long Periods, Debris Particles
