What do you do when the heavens open?

[Sapper]

Well, at about 6pm tonight, the heavens opened over me as I was driving home and I noticed that some people had some interesting ways of coping with the situation. Anyway, since Sydney will probably see more rain nowadays, I'd like to pose the question in the title. What I am referring to is torrential rain that is generally accopanied by hail.

[poolkeeper]

If its hailing, pull over under cover, at a servo or one of my jobs garage/carport...
Heavy rain, usually continue at a much slower pace though...

[LUXO_8]

i turn the headlights on, and procede with caution.....slowing down to the conditions.

if it gets so heavy i absolutley cannot see, i'll find a safe place to pull to the side and put my hazard lights on

[The Monty]

Slow down, headlights on, and a big distance between me and the car in front.

[King Nothing]

Speed up to get home before the hail starts!


...


Just kidding! Put the headlights on and slow down, stop if I cant see

[AU2 Pursuit Ute]

Perfect! all traffic pulled over, coppers are like disprins( they dissolve in water) Ya Hammer it of course!!

[SP.UTE1]

Hail - On the bike, head for cover :
Hail - In the Typhoon, head for cover :
Rain - On the bike, keep going :
Rain - In the Typhoon, CHECK THAT TRACTION CONTROL IS ON :eclipsee_
BBB

[gthofan]

Originally Posted by King Nothing

Speed up to get home before the hail starts!


...


Just kidding! Put the headlights on and slow down, stop if I cant see

very nice :

[XR6_661]

I live in Cairns, so in the wet seasin we get some hardcore rain.

I'll usually just slow down heaps, gotta love rainX, but if it is really bad, I'll pull over!

[MITCHAY]

I have the headlights on and drive depending on how heavy the rain is. If the visibility is really poor, I have my front and rear spotlights on.

It's never been that bad that I have pulled over but I go really slow.

It's amazing how many people continue to drive flat out without lights on like today in Canberra. Not suprisingly I saw a MX5 on a tray top completely smashed up.

[XR8-260]

Rain - watch out for massive puddles on the road. I went through one and came out without a mudflap .

[old_mate]

get out and proceed to wash car? bloody water restrictions

[Force6]

Pull over and pick up some hail stones and make myself a scotch on the rocks for the drive home...

[samftr]

like el661 said, north queensland gets some filth rain depressions up there. been through half a METRE of rain in under 24 hours. no driving in that. hail is the nasty stuff tho. find a shopping centre or something to get out of it. lucky haven't had to worry about that yet. have driven to chermside one night and the hail nets were so full of hail they had sagged down and squashed the cars in under them until the ice melted haha no escape

also try and avoid anything with a bogan behind the wheel, as rain seems to bring them out... :(

[[Tonko]]

rain....?
whats that?

[samftr]

I think its a Madonna song isn't it?

[angelfury]

Originally Posted by TonkoXR8

rain....?
whats that?

there's a folk tale handed down to me through the generations by my mother that says that sort of wet stuff (like what you get from a tap, sometimes) rises into the air, way way above our heads, congregates up there, somewhere, and then this wet stuff falls back down again. now why it goes up, and then comes down again, is a mystery to me. i've never seen it happen either, and i don't believe my mother did either, so it's probably just a fairy tale or something. :

as for driving in it, well, if i ever saw it, lights would go on, i would slow down, and leave a huge gap between me and the car in front. if i couldn't see, i'd pull over. and then i'd take a photo.

[HLC]

if its hailing, i use to try and find cover, but ive been caught in a few hail storms now, and ive had no damage done. besides, thats what insurance is for.

in rain, normally turn traction control off. (not for hooning purposes- but i find the car easier to control in some situations than with it on)
headlights/parkers, and keep going.

[Casper]

Originally Posted by MADNC_8

i turn the headlights on, and procede with caution.....slowing down to the conditions.

if it gets so heavy i absolutley cannot see, i'll find a safe place to pull to the side and put my hazard lights on

Yup, thats what I usually do..

Unless I'm in Brisbane.
If in Brissy I do what everyone else does. Turn off lights, sit 3 inches off the guy in front, speed up to warp speed, yell abuse at everyone and laugh at those who have broken down/crashed. I guess its a Qld thing

[merlin]

Originally Posted by Casper

Yup, thats what I usually do..

Unless I'm in Brisbane.
If in Brissy I do what everyone else does. Turn off lights, sit 3 inches off the guy in front, speed up to warp speed, yell abuse at everyone and laugh at those who have broken down/crashed. I guess its a Qld thing

lol some parts of Sydney also experience this phenomenon - although the parts I usually seem to drive in, it goes somewhat like this:

Heavy rain begins - all lights on, hazards on, slow down to 10km/h, block every single lane, act panicked and put your hands on your head like you have never seen water before, proceed as if you are driving a rollerskate on slicks instead of a modern car with deep grooved tyres designed to operate in wet weather, wherever possible block all emergency lanes by parking angled across them and then proceeding to call your loved ones to say goodbye to the world. When it ends make a Captain Obvious comment about how it is "good for the drought".

[GXL078]

where's the option of keep going at full speed regardless?, that's what most drivers seem to do.

[I_Con]

Originally Posted by merlin

lol some parts of Sydney also experience this phenomenon - although the parts I usually seem to drive in, it goes somewhat like this:

Heavy rain begins - all lights on, hazards on, slow down to 10km/h, block every single lane, act panicked and put your hands on your head like you have never seen water before, proceed as if you are driving a rollerskate on slicks instead of a modern car with deep grooved tyres designed to operate in wet weather, wherever possible block all emergency lanes by parking angled across them and then proceeding to call your loved ones to say goodbye to the world. When it ends make a Captain Obvious comment about how it is "good for the drought".

Its all so true. Well said.

[X000BOSS]

expecting hail? well my mrs magna goes out from under cover, hopefully gets written off and my $3000 ute gets hidden under cover, no insurance on that one.

[T3ts50]

I Live in Melbourne so it hardly ever hails here. I dont think ive driven in hail since I had my ZL Fairlane 7 years ago.

[aualright]

I was lucky in that we just picked up the new T Ghia from the dealer and got it home 10 mins before the downpour on the Northern Beaches of Sydney.

****

[TheSneakiness]

Originally Posted by Casper

If in Brissy I do what everyone else does. Turn off lights, sit 3 inches off the guy in front, speed up to warp speed, yell abuse at everyone and laugh at those who have broken down/crashed. I guess its a Qld thing

What's wrong with that??

Sounds like something I'd do.

If I can't see anything in front, I slow down enough to see, lights on, and continue.

[Keepleft]

It is law nationwide under hazardous weather conditions causing reduced visibility to have either your low beam headlights on, and/or parkers and front fog lights.

Parklights (sidelights-position) 'alone' under such conditions are illegal.

Your poll suggestion/question regarding the use of hazard warning lights on moving vehicles under hideously low visibility is designed to act as defacto rear fog lamps for those vehicles that are not so equipped, and has NO bearing on forward visibility in any manner.

In the years ahead, you will see the governing Rule, 221(e) abolished, as rear fog lamps become mandatory on all new vehicles. They are simply the better option for hideously low visibility, and brighter than the hazards, despite bearing the same wattage bulbs.

The use of hazard warning lights in Australian alowance for so many reasons diminishes the reason why Europe created them, purely for crash scenes and breakdowns, thats it. That is also reflected in UN driving Conventions adopted by most countries.

[DirtyHarry]

Originally Posted by MADNC_8

i turn the headlights on, and procede with caution.....slowing down to the conditions.

if it gets so heavy i absolutley cannot see, i'll find a safe place to pull to the side and put my hazard lights on

Yep, that's what I do.

Nothing worse than seeing dipsticks do the hero thing and drive flat out in the rain - absolutely no idea. I don't care if they cream themselves, but the trouble is they are likely to take out somebody else as well.

I normally drive with headlights on but will also turn on front and rear foglights in reduced visibility.

Rain - Soldier on leaving a big gap and reduce speed depending on conditions.
Hail - Try to get into a servo, but most of the time it won't last long enough to actually get there.

[mbukukanyau]

Sometimes here in Colorado State we get freaking brick size ice bricks.. falling on your car