Weather

Perth can be a mixed bag of weather, with four seasons in a day often ruining the best laid plans. While we debate whether to bring a long-sleeve jumper or to wear our boardshorts, there are a few other pointers around the wintery wet to be considered. After all, what’s the point in having that great car if you can’t make it home in the rain without a dent or scratch? Allcredit have heard our fair share of disaster stories, so to help you to minimize danger we’ve compiled our six most critical points on safe driving in the worst weather, into one easy article. Become familiar with these to avoid any nasty scrapes on the roads this winter.

Visibility

Headlights aren’t just for late at night- if visibility is poor, due to low cloud and rain, your headlights are the best way for other drivers to spot you, and accommodate you on the road. Oncoming traffic may not spot you without your headlights on, although your high beams could be much worse as well. Through dense rain, your high beams will reflect and refract, and create a serious hazard for others. This is equally true for foggy roads, where high beams interrupt your distance of vision by illuminating the fog. In fog, we especially recommend low beam.

Windscreen wipers

Don’t wait until you’re in bumper-to-bumper traffic to notice that deafening screech of your windscreen wipers. Dodgy wipers can make driving in the rain a serious danger, as well as a headache, as your vision is seriously impaired. Make sure your windscreen wipers are effective, and the blades haven’t split or perished. Replace blades regularly, and check for signs such as smeary windscreens for signs of deterioration.

Safety

If you’re feeling confident on the roads, remember others may not be, and things do tend to go astray in the rain. Allow for several car lengths between you and the car in front, so that you have a greater stopping time and longer to react if need be.

Aquaplaning

While it may sound the power of some cancelled comic, aquaplaning is dangerous and can result in a serious accident. When water levels on the road create a formidable surface, your tyres may glide across the water rather than gaining traction on the roads. This impairs your ability to steer and control your vehicle, and can cause you to suddenly swerve erratically. The ability to glide is brought about by speed, so simply drive to the conditions and reduce your speed if there’s any wet on the roads. Take your foot off the accelerator to reduce the car’s speed, however braking can unbalance the force behind your car as it navigates the water and the road, and can result in a loss of control.

Tyre safety

Your tyres are all that’s between you and the road, so make sure they’re prepared to get you home safely. You must have a minimum of 1.6mm of tread over the entire tread area. An easy way to measure this is with something as simple as a match head, with the depth of 1.5mm. Use this to check the tread of all tyres- including your spare.

Fog and Rain

We’re usually blessed with clear skies, but don’t forget how quickly this can change. Fog and rain can be hugely hazardous- annually, there are nearly 5100 fatal crashes and over 304,800 cashes which cause injury in adverse weather conditions, Take extra care and reduce your speed, with minimal distractions around so you can focus on the roads. Speed limits are set to reflect average conditions, so don’t hesitate to drop a couple kilometres off the speedometer if you’re feeling nervous.

Here at Allcredit, we want to make sure that all of our customers get home in one piece. Look for a novated lease services provider that you can trust, and that has your best interests in mind. Our novated lease calculator means that you don’t get any nasty surprises when you’re preparing for you novated lease, and our customer care goes right from our website, to our professional and friendly service team. Call us today, and ask how we can help you organize the car you want, with minimal effort.