Towards the end of each year, the Malaysian climate becomes more erratic than ever. In recent years, there have been reports of unusual floods happening in the most peculiar places around the country and even reports of mini twisters!
When it rains, it pours. This can be quite serious when there are thunderstorms which could flood the roads and even in basement car parks. While there are several types of insurance that you can consider, what about situations when you have to maneuver through a puddle of water that might be higher than your tyres? We give you some tips.
Try to avoid them – If possible, you should try to avoid driving through any puddles of water. In most cases, you will notice that drivers will try to evade them by going around it. If you can wait for the water to recede, that would be ideal.
Take note of the depth – What you want to do is to avoid having water sucked into the air intakes of your car. The rule of thumb here is to avoid driving past water that is higher than the body of your car. If you are not on the highway and if possible to stop, you should check the depth before driving past.
Stagnant or flowing water – Never try to maneuver past flowing water because even the slowest flow can sweep your car away. If the water is stagnant, then it is safer.
Distance – DON’T ever follow behind a car too closely. The driver might panic and stop the car and you might not stop in time. This is how small accidents happen.
Speed – Engage low gear when driving past water. If the traffic is slow, you should be going about walking pace which means it should not be more than 5km/h. Do this until your front tyres are almost at the edge of the puddle and then increase the speed a bit more to around 8 to 10 km/h.
Technique – Maintain pressure on the accelerator when driving past puddles of water and do not take your foot off the pedal. This is to ensure that water do not get sucked into the exhaust pipe.
