Clean Windscreens Make Driving Safer
Keeping your windscreen spotlessly clean can reduce your chances of having an accident on the road……in wet or dry weather.
The dry summer and autumn have caused a build-up of dirt, oil, rubber and grime on the roads, which are normally washed clean by regular rainfall. It gets thrown up onto windscreens and creates a film that cuts the driver’s vision and is hard to remove, using ordinary water from the screen washer, which may make it worse by causing smears if wiped.
Research in the United States shows that keeping a windscreen shiny clean could cut as much as one second off a driver’s braking response in an emergency – enough to prevent a smash from occurring.
Findings by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute highlight the importance of treating the water in the windscreen washer container with an effective product, such as Rain-X Washer Fluid additive, which now comes in a new 500ml size in New Zealand, but still sells for the price of the old 296ml size. Rain-X Washer Fluid additive also incorporates Rain-X Rain Repellent, which keeps glass clearer when used because it repels water.
It may appear obvious that a dirty windscreen can prevent the driver from seeing an emergency situation quickly enough to respond, but it has been tested and quantified.
It’s called the 1-second advantage. In the so-called ‘Visual Acuity’ tests, the Institute calculated that the driver of a car with a smeared windscreen travelling at 100km/h would react one second later than the driver looking through Rain-X cleaned glass. The difference travelled during the lost reaction time was 27 metres.
For a car travelling at 50km/h, a vehicle with impaired windscreen visibility travelled 13.5 metres further than a vehicle with a clear screen.
The Institute says that with a clear windscreen the average braking response time was 0.5 seconds, against 1.5 seconds for the driver trying to peer through a dirty windscreen. Actual response times could vary according to the time of day, condition of the vehicle and the road and weather conditions.
“Having a clean windscreen is just as important in dry weather as it is when it’s raining,” says Tim Paterson, National Sales Manager for Griffiths Equipment, which distributes Rain-X products in New Zealand.
“Oil, rubber and grime build up on the glass and it can be very difficult to remove with ordinary water in the windscreen washer. So it’s important to use a product like Rain-X Washer Fluid additive, which has been proven in clearing windscreens and making driving safer.
“And now that we’ve increased the size of the Rain-X Washer Fluid additive pack to 500ml without increasing the price, it means that drivers can keep their glass cleaner for longer for the same money – it represents great value.”
For the best results, Mr Paterson says drivers should also periodically treat the windscreen of the vehicle with another product, Rain-X Original, as this helps to prevent wipers from creating streaks on the glass and enhances the view of the road ahead. It allows the Rain-X Washer Fluid additive to work better every time it is used. Mix 50 millilitres of additive for every 2 litres of water used in the washer bottle.
Rain-X Washer Fluid additive is available from automotive stores throughout New Zealand.