Provide for a rainy day
By H. Kishie Singh

COME monsoons, and you find yourself driving on wet, slippery roads. It is necessary to exercise some precautions to face the monsoon onslaught.

Make sure the windshield wipers are in perfect working condition. If the wiper blades are worn out, change them — it will make a world of difference. Good visibility is mandatory for good and safe driving. Make sure the windshield washer bottle is topped up. Add some glass cleanser to it and a few drops of vinegar.It really helps to keep the glass clean.

Remove the carpeting of your car, for it is likely to get wet with dripping shoes. A wet carpet can make the rust set in. Just keep the rubber mats, which are easy to take out and clean. This way the floor board can be cleaned every day and kept dry.

Some cars have carpeting that cannot be removed. Before entering them, make sure your shoes are not too muddy or wet. Old newspapers can be spread out on the floor board. They absorb water and can easily be replaced. Moreover, they will still sell as raddi! The garage is an ideal place to store old newspapers.

Another item to pay attention to is your tyres. During rains, the roads are wet, muddy and slushy. Tyres that have used up most of their tread will be unsafe. The tread is designed to go through water, slush, mud. It is designed to keep the tyre on the road by keeping the tyre clean.

A wet, muddy, slushy road not only needs good tyres but good brakes. When was the last time you checked your brakes? Don’t remember? Well, do it now. It is a simple procedure — Open, inspect, refit. If the pads, shoes, drums are in order, just wash them clean and refit them. This will improve your braking vastly.

Maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front. On wet roads, the stopping distance of the car increases because of lack of traction. Be especially careful while approaching pedestrian crossings, cross-roads, schools. There is danger lurking in the streets!

The use of headlights can be very useful. It announces your presence on the road. But keep the lights on low beam. This is recommended whenever there are low light conditions, rain, fog, mist. If you use high beam, the light will scatter and blind the driver coming from the opposite direction. There is a lot of moisture in the air these days. We don’t see it but a bright light is unable to pierce through this moisture, so it scatters, causing great discomfort to the other driver.

Most cars these days are equipped with heater, de-mister, rear-window heater and others such aids to good, comfortable and safe motoring. Learn to use them. I have seen drivers of expensive cars cleaning the inside of the windscreen with the palm of their hand. This way you are applying dirt on the windscreen. Read the driver’s instruction manual. What you won’t find in the instruction manual is what to do in case the wipers don’t work. Any Amby or Fiat owner knows what to do — their wipers never worked! Rub some tobacco on the windscreen and

wash it off with water, or cut a potato into half and make vertical lines on the windscreen. It makes the rain shed itself off the screen.

Happy motoring!