Cruise Control and Rain
A Deadly Combination

This is a copy of an email that I received recently.

Hi Glen,
I received this email from a young lady, and I am astounded that she didn't know about this.
 
An individual had a wreck a couple of weeks ago and totaled their Lincoln Town Car. She hydroplaned on Hwy. 135 between Gladewater & Kilgore, Texas.
She was not hurt, just emotionally rattled!
She learned a lesson I'd like to pass on to you. You may know this already--but the highway patrolman told her that you should NEVER drive in the rain with your cruise control on. He said if you did and hydroplaned (which she did) that when your tires were off the road your car would accelerate to a high rate of speed (which it did).
You don't have much, if any control when you hydroplane, but you are totally in the hands of God when the car accelerates.
She took off like she was in an airplane. She is so thankful she made it through that ordeal. Please pass the word around about not using cruise control when the pavement is wet or icy.
The highway patrolman said this should be on the sun visor with the warning about airbags. The only person she found out who knew this (besides the patrolman) was a man who had a similar accident and totaled his car.
This has made her wonder if this is not why so many of our young people are dying in accidents.
End

Note From Glen:
We, at Airdrie Driving School, have always taught this, but there are still a lot of people for whom this is new information. We urge all of our readers to copy and paste this page into an email, and send it to their friends and relatives. Alternatively you might send them a link to this page. Whatever works best for you. Lets just get the word out.

Never use cruise control on ice, wet roads, gravel, or any other non paved surfaces.
Cruise Control should also not be used when pulling a trailer.


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