Driving in heavy rain
Driving from East Dereham in Norfolk to Cambridge last Friday was not one of the most enjoyable drives I’ve had. Why? Well first of all weather conditions were atrocious, rain shrouded in mist creating a kind of wet fog, so visibility was poor. But worst of all a small minority of drivers had failed to put their lights on! As a result they were virtually invisible, making the potential for a crash to happen on the road ahead much higher. 
The golden rule must be, if you see the majority of drivers have their lights on, you become far less visible because of the light around you, so switch yours on too. Even in daylight, heavy rain and mist-shrouded rain vastly reduces visibility so switch on your lights (but not front fog/spot as the light from these can add glare from reflection on the wet surface, so adding to the danger!).
In wet weather stopping distances are doubled, so increase your following distance to 4 seconds - use a static object, such as a lampost, and start counting as the vehicle ahead passes this object; if you reach the same object before you’ve finished counting you’re too close, so increase your distance by slightly easing off the throttle.
Tip:
Count in 1000s, 1000, 2000 etc or say the sentence “Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule” twice. You need to say it at a steady pace, don’t gabble!
In many ways driving in rain can be more dangerous than driving in snow as other drivers fail to recognise the dangers associated with rain, so fail to adjust their driving. Read our tip on driving in floods for information on aquaplaning.
