My Fiance got this forward the other day and asked me if it was real. Thought a few of you out there could have gotten this in your inbox and wondered the same thing…
Begin Email…
Subject: Fw: Good to know
Most of us drive a lot - so if you didn’t know this it would be important.Ina
Subject: Good to know
EVER KNEW THIS BEFORE…
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 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 when
your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the
pavement, your car will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making 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.
NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow
you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.
End Email…
Let’s start with the mechanics of this claim. Hydroplaning is when water comes between the tire and the road, braking the friction bond. This can cause your vehicle to go out of control due to lack of traction. When you set your cruise contol, the computer reads the speed of your wheels turning and uses the revolutions per minute to calculate speed. If anyone has ever spun the tires in the snow, you will notice your speedometer increasing in speed as you push on the gas pedal. This is an important fact in this story… the cruise control reads the wheel speed, not the actual speed of the car. So when your tires loose contact with the road during a hydroplaning situation, the tires are still spinning so your cruise control thinks you are going the same speed. If anything you will slow down when hydroplaning since your tires will no longer be propelling the car forward.
The second part of the story is about the car flying into the air… this is totally 100% false. For you to have enough wind resistance to flip a car over, you would need to be traveling way over the speed limit (over 100mph). This part of the story is a very typical exaggeration found in most urban legends.
With all that said, it’s still not recommended to use your cruise control in severe ice, snow and very heavy rain because of your delayed reaction since your foot is not on the pedals of the vehicle.
Take Care,
Kevin Schappell
P.S. To check out any potential urban legend I always check out Snopes before I reply or forward to anyone.
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