[supermax]

I traveled to Stockholm with my family over the weekend, to catch up with friends, and do some sight-seeing in and around Stockholm. My son who's nearly two is now keenly interested in the various forms of transportation, and we thought it would be fun for him to discover trams and boats, in addition to planes, buses, and trains that he'd already seen. After a fun weekend, we started off on our drive back to Linköping, 210 kilometers away. While I knew that there might be rain on the way, I didn't know that what awaited us was a deluge, the most torrential rain I'd experienced in my 10+ years in Sweden. According to the Swedish meteorological and hydrological institute (SMHI), a yellow warning for extreme rain was in effect during the night, and it resulted in some adventurous driving!

I've driven in heavy rain, but in the kind of deluge that opened up yesterday, even with the wipers on at full blast, it was getting hard to see through the windscreen, and with the outside temperature plummeting quickly resulting in a big temperature gradient between inside and outside the car, condensation started setting in fast, resulting in very bad glare, so I had to keep turning on the defoggers at MAX intensity fairly regularly, to keep both the rear window and the windscreen free of condensation. GTO's compilation of rain tips (Safe Driving in the Rains) is extremely detailed and comprehensive, and the only things I could add to it are things that are specific to driving abroad, on motorways, which I'll do so here.

The legal limits for tread on summer tires here is 1.6 mm, but as GTO points out, 2-3 mm should be considered the absolute minimum. The fact that my tires have around 5.5 mm gave a lot of confidence, and not misplaced confidence too, as I drove at speeds between 85 and 120, and even through sections with a lot of water on the road, without aquaplaning.

The hardest part when the rain was belting down at its hardest was in making out the lane separation on the motorway, as I neither wanted to drive too close to the rumble strip on the right, or end up driving between lanes, by staying centered or left of center, except when passing. In good conditions, it's considered bad form to drive below the posted limit, which is something that catches many fellow Indians off-guard, when they first arrive here and start driving. If the posted limit is 110, you are expected to be driving at 110, unless the conditions are bad. Only in extremely bad conditions such as the the ones prevailing yesterday, are you allowed to drive slower, and that too with care. For me, when the rain was at its worst, the best option was to slot a safe distance some four seconds behind a truck doing 85 on the right lane, when the posted limit was 110. How does one calculate the time? Just pick out a static reference point the truck passes, such as a reflective strip or milestone marker, and count the seconds out by saying out 'One-one-thousand, Two-one-thousand Three-one-thousand Four-one-thousand' etc. If you can't count to Four-one-thousand, ease off on the gas slightly, to build a safer separation to the truck/vehicle ahead of you. This was the slowest I've ever driven on a 110 rated motorway in Sweden, but also the highest speed that felt appropriate. Fortunately for me, the traffic headed towards Linköping was next to nil, and the number of cars that passed me were very few. A car that approached me from behind saw that I was driving sensibly and just slotted a safe distance behind me and our convoy, with the truck ahead of us both, rolled on steadily till the downpour eased off.

As the rain abated, the visibility improved dramatically, and I no longer felt anxious. I downshifted to fourth, gave a healthy push on the gas pedal, and off we went. The turbo made power without the slightest hint of hesitation, and I passed the truck, and another trailer truck ahead of it practically instantly. Driving in rain is a very important skill to pick up and one should progressively drive in heavier and heavier rain, so one knows what to expect and how to handle the rain. It's also best to learn to deal with rain in broad daylight, before experiencing it in the dark, as the workload can increase very quickly and overcome ones abilities, if we don't have the requisite experience in better conditions. One thing that my earlier experience with making passes on trucks in the rain had taught me was how to react and deal with the spray. Even if there is no active rain but just residual water on the road, we should be prepared to flick on the wipers as we pass trucks as the spray onto our windscreens can be quite immense. Another thing is to look ahead, plan the pass, commit to it, and not hesitate in the least while passing, even when the visibility is temporarily impaired. When my windscreen was covered with spray that even the wipers struggled with, my foot didn't waver on the gas, but I even accelerated harder while staying the course, to ensure that I spent the minimum time alongside the truck, keeping my time in the truck's blindspot to the absolute minimum.

Using the highbeam is another thing that's rather complex, due to the constant traffic from the opposite direction. You are almost always forced to rely on the low-beam, with the high beam only being used for very brief spells, but when used, it makes a dramatic improvement to ones visibility. Cars with fancy automatic dimming are nice for sure, but I certainly don't have any problems with staying old school, be it with manual gears, or using the highbeam when needed and appropriate. Towards the end of the trip is when I go on extra alert, as I've read and heard that the the danger of relaxing too much and hence losing focus/getting distracted/dozing off increases when one is within 30 km of the destination. On my last trip, I'd had moments when my car's tiredness alert had kicked in, detecting changes in my style of gripping the wheel, but there were no alerts this time from the car, as I'd been on alert myself. Getting down to city speeds after a long stretch on the motorways is another thing that's even taught to students as a potential pitfall, and I made sure I slowed down appropriately when it was time to do so. My last 50 km or so had been extra spirited and I was trying to get home as soon as I possibly could, without exceeding speed limits, so the fuel efficiency dropped a tad, but it was still a respectable 5.2 L per 100 km when I finished the drive. The average speed too was rather nice, considering that speeds are rather low till one fully exits the Stockholm city limits which stretches on for what feels like an eternity.

[shankar.balan]

I have experienced similar torrential downpours in the North of England (Yorkshire) and in Ireland on the Atlantic coast and in Scotland too. Most recent such experience was in France a few years ago (just at the time of the vendange (the grape harvest and crushing)) and that was a day on which we were commuting to a world famous heritage/ historic site some 200 kms away from where we were staying and returning too after the visit.
Luckily we were in a near-brand-new BMW M420i and it was just delicious. And more luckily on that day there was very negligible traffic on both sides of the road so there no problem driving with the lights on and at the 110kmph limit because that car was just beautifully stuck to the road.