Driving Tips That Don’t Work

I received one of those unsolicited messages this week, which contained advice on driving in the rain.  Since I am a road hawk—I drove 1,800 miles last week on my road trip—I do feel that I am qualified to respond to the advice. I’m going to quote the message exactly, because I want to respond to each part of it in detail. Here it is:

How to achieve good vision while driving during a heavy downpour.
 
We are not sure why it is so effective; just try this method when it rains heavily. This method was given me by a Police friend who had experienced and confirmed it.  It is useful… even driving at night. One method used by Canadian Military Drivers for years.
 
Most of the motorists would turn on HIGH or FASTEST SPEED of the wipers during heavy downpour, yet the visibility in front of the windshield is still bad.
 
In the event you face such a situation, just try your SUN GLASSES (any model will do), and miracle! All of a sudden, your visibility in front of your windshield is perfectly clear, as if there is no rain.
 
Make sure you always have a pair of SUN GLASSES in your car, as you are not only helping yourself to drive safely with good vision, but also might save your friend's life by giving him this idea..
 
Try it yourself and share it with your friends! Amazing, you still see the drops on the windshield, but not the sheet of rain falling.
 
You can see where the rain bounces off the road. It works to eliminate the "blindness" from passing semi's spraying you too.
 
Or the "kickup" if you are following a semi or car in the rain. They ought to teach that little tip in driver's training. It really does work.

First of all, I doubt that any policeman confirmed the method.  And I also doubt that the Canadian Military uses it either, especially if practiced as stated.  IT DOESN’T WORK AS DESCRIBED!  In addition, sunglasses of any kind should never be worn while driving at night.  They would cut down on an already impeded visibility and would be dangerous, raining or not.

The author writes about drivers using high or fastest speed of the wipers, then seems to indicate that the wipers should be left in the off position.  The sunglasses are the only aid referred to in the third paragraph.  Any model will do is dead wrong, as only polarized sun glasses would help, but they wouldn’t make the windshield perfectly clear as if there is no rain, especially if those wipers were left off.

In the fifth paragraph, the writer praises the sun glasses’ effect of “eliminating blindness from passing semis spraying you too.”  As you know, when a semi splashes water up on your windshield, it forms a sheet of it.  No sunglasses will convert that shimmering mass of water into a clear view of the road ahead.  The same is true of the “kickup” that comes from any vehicle ahead of you that drives through a puddle and drenches the cars behind. There is no way that a sheet of water magically disappears when sunglasses are worn.

In summary, I would hope that if anyone takes driver training they will learn the proper driving method for driving on wet, snowy or icy roads. Wearing sunglasses for other than bright, sunny conditions is not safe or recommended. Turning off cruise control and shifting out of overdrive is a much safer tactic. If it is raining hard enough that your wiper cannot keep the windshield clear, pull over to the side of the road and wait it out.

However, if you don’t believe me and you really want to test the theory, make sure you do it on a road that I’m not on, try to make the test when it isn’t raining cats and dogs and be prepared to yank the sunglasses off again quickly when you discover that the method doesn’t work.