1993 Oldsmobile Achieva Owner's Manual - Page 160

Your Dvirzg and the Road Some Other Rainy Weather Tips Turn on your headlights-not just your parking lights-to help make you more visible to others. Look for hard-to-see vehicles coming from behind. You may want to use your headlights even in daytime if it's raining hard. Besides slowing down, allow some extra following distance. And be especially careful whenyou pass another vehicle. Allow yourself more clear room ahead, and be prepared to have your view restrictedby road spray. If the road spray isso heavy you are actually blinded, drop back. Don't pass until conditions improve. Going more slowly is better than having an accident. Use your defogger if it helps. Have good tires with proper tread depth. (See the Index under Tires.) Driving inFog, Mist and Haze Fog can occur with high humidity or heavy frost. It can be mild that you so can see throughit for several hundred feet (meters). Or it might be so thick that you can see only a few feet (meters) ahead. It may come suddenly to an otherwise clear road.And it can be a major hazard. When you drive into afog patch, your visibility will be reduced quickly. The biggest dangers are striking the vehicle ahead or being struck by the one behind. Try to "read" the fog density down the road.If the vehicle ahead starts to become less clear or, at night, if the taillights are harder to see, the fog is probably thickening. Slow down to give traffic behind you a chance to slow down. Everybody then has a better chance to avoid hitting the vehicle ahead. A patch of dense fog may extend only for a few feet (meters) or for miles (kilometers); you can't really tell while you're in it. You can only treat the situation with extreme care. One common fog condition-sometimes called mist or ground fog-can happen in weather that seems perfect, especially at night or in the early morning in valley and low, marshy areas. You can be suddenly enveloped in thick, wet haze that may even coat your windshield. You can often spot these fog patches mist or layers with your headlights. But sometimes they can be waiting for you I as you come over a hill or dip into a shallow valley. Start your windshield wipers and washer to help clear accumulated road dirt. Slow down carefully.