The autumn is coming, bringing darkness, rain and unpredictable road conditions with it. At the same time, the risk of traffic accidents increases. How can motorists promote safety in autumn road traffic via their own actions? In this bulletin, you can find the key pointers of Fintraffic and Liikenneturva (Finnish Road Safety Council) for driving safely in the autumn.
Remember to keep a safe distance and always adjust your driving to prevailing conditions
You should always remember to keep a safe distance in road traffic regardless of the season. And you should be extra careful about distances at the darkest time of the year, when weather conditions are even more challenging on the road than usual. Therefore, you should always adapt the way you drive to the prevailing driving conditions and other traffic, which often also means keeping longer safe distances and reducing your own driving speed.
“When viewed from Fintraffic Road Traffic Centre's perspective, the only way to keep traffic safe is to cooperate with other road users. For every one of us, this especially means keeping a sufficiently long safe distance to those driving ahead of us. The meaning of a safe distance become emphasised even further in the challenging driving conditions of the autumn, when every second counts in accident and near-miss situations. In summer, when the weather conditions are good and dry, a safe distance of 100 m at the speed of 100 km may well be enough but if it rains, the braking distance will increase considerably. So, do not underestimate the importance of keeping a safe distance. Only by maintaining proper safe distances we can keep traffic running safely, thus avoiding, for example, multi-vehicle collisions during morning and afternoon rush hours,” says Mika Jaatinen, Head of Unit, Road Traffic Management Centres in Finland, Fintraffic.
Risk of aquaplaning in rainy weather
The rainy and foggy autumn weather makes driving conditions more difficult and reduces visibility. The risk of aquaplaning also increases.
“If the conditions or traffic situation make driving difficult, you should reduce your speed. A lower driving speed gives you more time to make observations, shortens the stopping time and distance, and makes the vehicle easier to control. The safety technology will also be of more assistance,” says Toni Vuoristo, Planning Officer from Liikenneturva (Finnish Road Safety Council).
“A lower driving speed also effectively prevents aquaplaning. Aquaplaning may occur even when there is not that much water on the road, but the more water there is, the higher the risk. When it’s raining, you should be extra vigilant and choose your driving line so that you do not drive through puddles or at least slow down before them. When passing pedestrians and cyclists, you should avoid splashing them. It is also a good idea to avoid driving just behind any lorries or buses when the weather is bad,” Vuoristo continues.
If the rain is so heavy that it significantly impairs visibility or makes you feel uncertain about your driving skills, you should park the vehicle on the side of the road in a safe place.
Before starting off, you should check the weather forecast. Then, if there is a risk of driving conditions getting poor, you can reserve more time for your trip and plan the route in advance in other respects as well. One convenient way of doing this is to view the traffic information for your route, for example, on the free Fintraffic Traffic Situation service, where you can find, among other things, road weather information, traffic volume data, road weather camera images and traffic bulletins.
More information: How to increase tyre grip in the challenging autumn weather conditions
On the road, you should remember that in slippery weather conditions, the tyre grip does not disappear by itself. The driver often causes the loss of grip with their own actions. To prevent losing traction, try to do the following:
- Start off and accelerate so that the traction wheels do not slip.
- Drive to curves at a moderate speed to prevent the vehicle from veering off the road.
- Avoid driving at high speed into water-filled tracks or puddles on the road.
- Avoid sudden steering movements.
- In bad weather, you should avoid overtaking. Careless overtaking may result in loss of ability to control the vehicle, which usually happens when the driver is returning to their own lane after overtaking.
- Pay attention to the condition of vehicle tyres in good time.
