How to Drive Safely Through Floods
Jakarta – The rainy season as it is today will certainly cause some problems on the streets. Especially if the flood is so severe that some vehicles and houses must be submerged.
This makes vehicle owners worried if the vehicle will be flooded while traveling. Therefore, drivers should be alert when it has entered the rainy season.
In addition to submerged vehicles, flooding also has the potential for many accidents because low visibility and slippery roads can cause tires to slip.
Therefore, drivers should know some safe ways to drive when passing through the flood below.
1. Run the Vehicle Slowly
Flooding will indeed hinder travel. If a sudden flood occurs while driving on the road, then all you have to do is run the car at low speed and if using a manual car then it should use low gear.
Run the car at low speed also in anticipation of big holes in the road that are difficult to see. If it breaks through the flood at high speed, it will certainly endanger yourself and the vehicle.
2. There Must Be Distance with Other Vehicles
When the vehicle is already running at low speed, it must also provide its own distance with other vehicles that are in front and behind.
This should be done if it suddenly breaks down or stops suddenly in the middle of the flood so that there is no collision.
3. Estimate Water Height and Waves
Flooding is indeed one of the causes of car damage. However, the driver must estimate the height of the flood when wanting to run the car and see the water waves.
The wave of water that arises because other vehicles will definitely make the water high up and down and will cause the water to get into the car.
4. Don’t Step on the Clutch
Manual car drivers should avoid stepping on the clutch when caught in floodwaters. This may result in water entering the transmission, which may damage the transmission as the oil mixes with water.
In addition, do not hold half the clutch because it will make the engine spin higher, so that the air sucked by the intake water will become more. Therefore the rider must set in low gear and keep the engine spin.
5. Turn Off the Machine in An Emergency
When caught in flooding, there are a lot of risks when driving. One is if the car goes deeper into the flood and the car starts to float not sticking to the asphalt of the road.
However, if it is felt that the height of the flood has passed through the air inflow and the hood has been submerged then it must immediately turn off the engine. This is to prevent the risk of water hammers in vehicle engines.
That’s some way to drive a vehicle if it’s stuck in a flood. Some of the above methods can reduce the risk of damage or engine failure in vehicles that must cost a lot for repairs.
To prevent getting caught in floods on the road, we recommend installing a GPS Tracker such as InovaTrack that has a traffic information feature. Using the InovaTrack feature, drivers can know the current traffic flow and to avoid the risk of flooding, the driver can find other routes for travel.
Immediately install InovaTrack in your vehicle so that the trip is always safe and comfortable, and do not worry about getting stuck during floods because InovaTrack is also waterproof for sure!