Heavy rains hit the UAE recently and caused traffic delays and road accidents in different states of the country. Bad weather puts the road safety in the UAE at risk due to the country’s high resident to car ratio and reckless driving behavior of the motorists. The resident to car ratio in the UAE is 2:1, which is highest in the world and poses serious challenges to traffic authorities to maintain road safety, especially in bad weather.
The traffic authorities have been putting-in their best efforts through awareness campaigns and other road safety initiatives in order to ensure that proactive measures for conditions like bad weather are taken by the motorists. Unfortunately, these efforts bore little fruit in the recent rains as the heavy rains in the UAE caused dangerous situations on roads and 1,400 accidents were recorded in Dubai.
Also read: 9 Lifesaving Tips for Driving in the Rain
Hydroplaning of Vehicles caused Maximum Accidents
From 23rd to 25th of March, there were heavy rains recorded in the UAE, which subsequently resulted in minor and major road accidents. As per Dubai Police, 20,653 emergency calls were received during the rains and a total of 1,400 accidents were recorded. Sharjah Police also recorded 10,131 emergency calls in the same period. Different areas of the UAE also experienced flooding, which caused hydroplaning of a large number of vehicles.
What is Hydroplaning and How to avoid it?
You might find your vehicle in a hydroplaning condition when you are driving on wet roads. In case of heavy rains, a sheet or layer of water gets formed on the roads that stops a vehicle from touching the road surface at high speeds and results in floating of the car on rain water. In such a scenario, a driver can completely lose control over steering, acceleration and brakes of the vehicle. Many recent accidents in the UAE have been caused by speeding vehicles which experienced hydroplaning during heavy rains.
How to Avoid Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning can only be avoided by driving at a moderate speed and by using high-quality tyres for the vehicles. The tyre tread matters a lot when it comes to maintaining a strong grip of the vehicle with the road surface. The area of the tyre that touches the road is called the contact patch and when a high-quality tyre with thicker tread is used on wet roads, it helps by channeling the water out of the contact patch, hence ensures a safe drive during rain. Proper maintenance and timely replacement of tyres also helps a vehicle in an event of heavy rains. Tyre tread must be regularly checked for any possible wear and tear and this can be simply checked using a Dirham coin test. The tyres must be changed when the tread of tyres fades significantly as tyres with thinner treads are more prone to hydroplaning.
Safe Practices for Driving in the Rain
With so many accidents caused by heavy rains before the onset of summers, and with more rains expected to hit the country throughout summers, the UAE motorists need to adopt safe driving practices in order to maximize road safety for all commuters on the road.
Following are some safe driving practices for driving in rain:
- Don’t drive too fast – You need to reduce your speed considerably than what you normally drive at. A reduction of 5-10 Km/h in speed is ideally suggested for driving in rain, but you should further reduce the speed of your vehicle if it starts to rain heavily.
- Never tailgate – While driving in rain or wet conditions, the tyres struggle to maintain grip on the road, therefore, you should always maintain a safe distance. Ideally, you should increase the distance than what you normally maintain to allow your vehicle to brake safely.
- Avoid accelerating – If you find your car hydroplaning, don’t panic and just take your foot off the accelerator. Your car would come in the contact with the road soon as the speed of the vehicle drops.
- Maintain car lights – Driving in rain is never easy and your vehicle should be in the best shape to survive in a heavy rain. For this purpose, all lights of your car should work at their best so that the low visibility caused by heavy rains doesn’t affect your driving.
- Using a water repellent – There are products available in the market which when used on the windscreen allow the raindrops to slide off the windscreen quickly. These products are known as water repellents and can considerably improve your view of the road.
- Wearing polarized glasses – Wearing polarized glasses is known to improve your vision while driving.
Road Safety Must Never be compromised regardless of Weather Conditions
The ultimate aim while driving in rain should be to stay safe and keep others on the road safe. Adopting defensive driving practices while driving in rain is the best option as it will not only save you from a potentially fatal accident but it will also ensure the safety of other commuters on the road. Being considerate to others is also important while driving in heavy rain or wet conditions as anyone on the road can panic due to difficult driving conditions, long traffic delays and congestions. Motorists in the UAE must make sure that they follow these safe driving habits next time when the heavy rains hit the country so that the number of accidents can be decreased and traffic congestions can be reduced.
Assisted Driving with Car Safety Features
In addition to this, there are cars available in the UAE market that have safety features which assist the driver in difficult driving conditions. Some of these life-saving safety features include Forward Collision Avoidance System, Electronic Stability Control, Lane Assist, Head-UP Display and a lot more, all of these safety features help improve the chances of avoiding an accident by assisting the driver.
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