If you're going to live in Central Florida, the thunderstorm capital of America, you need to know how to drive in the rain. We had a pretty good soaker today at the usual time, which is whenever I'm driving home from work.
The common wisdom is that you should slow down when it starts raining. The roads are slick, so you need more time to brake and react. Unfortunately, some people take this wisdom to the extreme, thereby committing stupidity. If you're driving too slow for traffic, then traffic bunches up behind you. Instead of increasing reaction time, you've actually decreased the reaction time of the person behind you.
I drove home behind a few of these extremists tonight, and it seems like the slowest ones were in the left lane. Congratulations! That really makes my day. Not only are you driving 35 mph in a 65 mph speed limit zone, but you're also keeping sane folks from passing you.
Driving too fast in a heavy downpour causes different problems. For example, the white pickup I saw speeding along the 408 today managed to cause the rest of us to slow down. That's because he lost traction on a gentle curve. He had a nice hydroplane going as his pickup truck managed to plow into a tall streetlight post and knock it over. At least he didn't knock the pole over onto other traffic, and he didn't seem injured from his unique brand of stupidity. Some poor county worker now has to come out and fix the damage. I doubt the traffic ticket he receives will cover the cost of replacing that streetlight, so expect to take a hit on your tax dollars if you live in Orange county.
Rain. It's just another opportunity to demonstrate the ill effects of extremism.
