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>> Rub tobacco from a cigarette on the inside of the windshield
>> Turn on the fan with the airflow directed to the windshield.
>> Leave the blower in fresh-air mode
>> If it's not raining very heavily, you can leave a small airgap (a few millimeters) instead of raising the side glasses completely.

Just my two cents :)

What is tobacco for?

Another thing apart from this: get side visors fitted. They fit right above the window so you can roll down the windows a bit even in heavy rain without letting water inside.

another safety feature which not many people are aware of is that if at all you get in a situation where you can not open the doors of the car and don't have a hammer to break the window glass, simply kick the front OR the rear windshield a bit hard. it's designed to fall off if pressure is applied inside. in all the cars the windshield is fixed from outside, and the rubber bidding is on the inner side. otherwise also this works.

tried and tested.

One point not covered here which I have experienced in past is that visibility during rains in the night is not curtailed only by the windshield and the amount of rain, but also how clean your headlights and tail lights are.
Few years back driving back in the night on ghodbunder road with no street lights, i could feel that headlights from my car were seemingly not focussed as i could barely see the road or the divider even when the rain was light. I got my headlights aligned few times but it did not improve my issue. As i parked the car in the night and next day morning the car used to get washed early morning, i was not able to see the muck which was accumulating on the head light.
Then, once I took the car on the side and got down and saw the headlights, I realised that the spray deposited on the headlight was diffusing the light. This is the case mostly when the rain is light and there is lot of spray on the road. Also, it is not like that the headlights are dark or fully covered with muck, and you can see most of the light coming out but the thin layer of misty muck just diffuses the light so that it simply doesn't light up the road or the divider enough for me to see.
The simple solution was to wipe the headlights and the taillights clean before I started in the night and if the rain was light and i could see the spray forming on the windshield, I stopped on the way and cleaned the lights again.

You are quite right , I used to travel a lot around Thane , Kalyan & between Pune to Mumbai a lot in the 90's, Roads were horrible (no expressway ,no flyovers ) . Though I used to travel in a 540 4x4 'Jeep ' each joureny was 'memorable '. I still dont forget those days ( nights specially),every day/night one could see atleast 5 accidents in a 50 km. streach.

Good point! Mud can really reduce those headlights.

Spot on. I face that especially following trucks on NH4, which dont really have a mud guard, infront of us.

If it is foggy or there's heavy rains, don't use High beam. Light is reflected back in reducing visibility further. Use fog lamps if available or use low beam.

:thumbs up+1 to that! You are absolutely right. Faced the same on Blr-Hyd highway in 2009.

I was watching the programme related to cars and bikes on a TV channel. They are highlighighting feautures of an audi car which has a spray feauture for headlights too.

Take care of your head lights and tail lights too by wiping them clean with normal water every day. Don't use any chemicals as the light covers are plastic now a days. It is as important as keeping your wind shield clean.

Thanks to sharadmumbai (who I think is the first one to have brought this out) for highlighting this.

Murthy

Both spray and wipers are there for headlamps.

I have a vague feeling that Volvo might be the first I ever saw, but this is going back maybe four decades or more.

Its been raining heavily in Mumbai and the usually good roads have gone for a toss, especially the ones which are re-done by 'favor' blocks! yes right not paver, favor blocks. Simply hate them. They accumulate water, chip away easily and once any vehicle goes into that favor crater, bang boom! its worse than a tar crater, I mean a pothole!! This is what our martian landscape does to us :D

So, here are a few tips to make the most out of your drive and making sure you are safe alongwith others on the road.

1. Tires: The most important factor which will either turn your rain drive safe and fun or completely unsafe. Get the best tires out there for your vehicle, be it any brand, just go for them! Then, check the tire pressure consistently and if you are doing daily highway runs, nitrogen IS a good idea. Tubeless tires, even better as tube ones seem like relics.

2. Get the best set of wipers, be it Bosch or any other good brand. But get them. When it lashes heavily it makes sense to have good rubber wiping away the water with fewer creases the old rubber leaves behind.

3. In the spray solution which we use for the windshield, pour in a little vodka. Sounds little funny but it works like a charm! Keeps the glass super clean even when muck from all sides been up on it. Especially on the highways.

4. Last but not the least, get your vehicle serviced or atleast change the oil & (fully synthetic then no need!) inspect the suspension. It ensures your babys running great in this hot-cold & wet weather plus the craters are taken care off nicely.

All set and done, exit the pit-lane from your garages and have a safe drive!

~Mehul.

1) Pour a little bit of glass cleaner like Colin in the windscreen washer bottle. This will keep the windscreen clean. If possible keep a small bottle of the same in the car.
2) If your car is more than 3-4 yrs old, get the wiper motor and linkages checked. Check the wiper blade regularly and replace if they are cracked - wipers can cause scratches on the windscreen.
3) Always keep a set of spare head & tail lights in yr car and learn how to install them (its very easy).
4) When visibility is low, ensure that yr lights are on.
5) Get yr batteries checked.
6) Last but not least, drive slowly & carefully - getting to the destination is important

Today's ToI has an article on this topic:
Driving-Tips-Tackling-the-Monsoon,Buy New Cars, Used Cars, Auto News and Reviews India - Zigwheels.com

In the Wipers' section it says "Do not forget alignment of the blade arms".
Can someone throw light on what do they mean? How to do alignment of Wiper Blade Arms?

I need a clarification for using wipers. During rain we have frost on the inside of the windshield so we switch on the AC to remove that frost so as to balance the temperature. But after some time the frost starts setting up on the outside. Now do I need to continuously keep on starting or shutting the AC to maintain the temperature or is there a way out?