5 Truck Driver Safety Tips for Rainy Stormy Weather

If you’re a professional truck driver, then you already know that a huge part of your job is being on the road. And since you’re spending so many hours driving from one destination to the next, this means that you are bound to encounter some inclement weather; sometimes even rain storms.

Although the rainy weather is nothing to be overly concerned about, as you’re passing through, it is important that you make sure to do all that you can to keep both you and the people sharing the road with you as safe as possible. That’s why we wanted to provide you with five truck driver safety tips for rainy stormy weather below:

Turn on your lights. Although it is the law to turn on your lights in the rain, unless it’s very dark outside, it’s still something that far too many of us fail to do. However, the reason why you should make sure to have them on is so that people can see you whether they are close up or far away; especially when you’re on the road with slick road conditions.

Defrost your windows. Depending on how humid it is outside, sometimes the rain can cause your windows to fog up. You definitely want to avoid this from happening because it’s a safety hazard to be moving about on the road without being able to see; especially in a truck where you have to remain alert about the smaller vehicles around you at all times. So, make sure to use the defrost option and if your A/C doesn’t work that you open up some of the side windows in your truck so that the moisture inside of it can easily evaporate.

Test your brakes. If you are driving through small flooded areas, once you pass by them, it’s important that you test your brakes to make sure that no water has lodged up inside of them. To do this successfully, you simply need to drive slowly while braking lightly simultaneously. That will provide your brakes with the amount of heat that they need in order to dry them out.

Drive slowly through the water. If you were to go to a website for some truck driver safety tips, something that you would probably read is that it’s important that you drive slowly through standing water. For one thing, when there is a lot of water on the road, it makes it harder for you to have traction. This means that it’s easier for you to lose control. Also, when you’re driving a truck, oftentimes your wheels will splash water onto the windshields of the cars around you. When this happens, that puts others at risk. So definitely make sure to slow down in heavy rainfall conditions. This brings us to the final point.

Pull over in heavy rain. When the rain is falling down so hard that your windshield wipers can barely keep up with it, it’s best to pull over. No matter how tight your schedule is, your supervisor is going to prefer that you get their safely. So, pull over to the side of the road, alert your supervisor of why and wait for the storm to pass. Once it’s over, you—and those around you—will be glad that you did.