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So less than an hour ago I was driving on 275N near St. Petersburg, FL and I was cruising along at around 70 in the middle lane (speed limit is 65, so basically I'm keeping up with traffic) and then right infront of me it starts to really pour, a lot of rain very fast. I let off the gas and slow to maybe 60-65, and I'm cruising for a bit because you can still see because that's how storms work in Florida, and the road is pretty much just been rained on and not driven on. My rear tires need to be changed. A little into the rain on a very straight road (again, Florida roads, especially highways, don't have turns for sometimes miles) and then my back end started to wander. I think, "OK, first I need to take it out of gear, the best thing to do is not to have the tires spin or stop turning." So out of gear it goes, by this time I haven't been on the gas much at all, so I'm going maybe 50-55 and still decellerating, and my back end is just swaying pretty heavily, enough so that I need to start to correct the car because I started pointing off the road. It was at this time that I thought, "Alright, no sudden movements and no slamming on the brakes, because that will result in a spin, and spinning on the highway is not good." So the car is basically unresponsive, my back end starts to go out even further, so I correct, it starts to go the other way, I attempt to correct (again, not doing hard steering because that is just asking for trouble) and then the next thing I know, I'm going sideways towards a guard rail. I am pretty fortunate because the guard rail I was heading towards was under an overpass, so at the last second my tires grip on the dry pavement and I finish my 360 and slide into the grass. I sat there for a few moments trying not to crap my pants and catch my breath and waiting for the rain to more or less stop (Florida storms last 10 minutes) and get back on the highway and finish driving back to work. Tomorrow I'm getting new tires. The weird part is that I just got some new parts on my car from someone who just recently hydroplaned into a guard rail on 275 a little north of me resulting in a totalled Z. Maybe the parts are cursed... In any event, anybody have a suggestion for if you start to hydroplane what to do? Aside from prevention like having good tires and avoiding puddles, like a way to recover? Or do you just close your eyes and hope for the best?
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19:30:20 07/23/07
