12.06.2006

Don't Use Your Cruise Control in Icy or Rainy Conditions...

NEVER KNEW THIS ...
(Per Snopes.com, this is actually true...)

I wonder how many people know about this?

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 had 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 and your car begins to hydro-plane when your tires lose contact with the pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed and 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.

If you send this to 15 people and only one of them doesn't know about this, then it was all worth it. You might have saved a life.

2 comments:

pilgrimchick said...

Wow--I never use cruise control, mostly because I live in New England and there are few roads here that are conducive to it. I had no idea that this sort of thing would happen--and has apparently happened--with no general warning of any kind.

Leigh said...

I generally don't use the cruise control, but now I definitely won't! Nothing like the possibility of skidding off the road and/or your car flying through the air to make you think twice!

Thanks for stopping by!
Leigh