Day: October 13, 2009

  • PSA - Drive Safely!

     

     

     

    A 36 year old female had an accident several weeks ago and totaled her car.

    A resident of Kilgore , Texas she was traveling between Gladewater & Kilgore. It was raining, though not excessively, when her car suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was not seriously injured but very stunned at the sudden occurrence!

    When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should
    know:

    NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE
    CONTROL
     ON!!!

    She thought she was being
     cautious by setting the cruise
    control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.

    But the highway patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane.

    She told the patrolman that was exactly what had occurred.

    The patrolman said this warning should be listed on the driver's seat sun-visor:

    NEVER USE THE CRUISE CONTROL
    WHEN THE PAVEMENT IS WET OR ICY,

    along with the airbag warning.

    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.

    The only person the accident victim found, who knew
    this (besides the patrolman), was a man who had had a
    similar accident, totaled his car and sustained severe
    injuries.

    NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.

     

    Do any of you guys have any experience with this? It's never happened to me, so I don't really know.