Why rain = heavier traffic

Well, whenever I drive through the rain, I always slow down. Vehicles will always try to slow down upon heavy rain downpour which can cause volume and bottlenecks in traffic to build up. Vehicles are slowing down either because of the flood or they can't see the road surface pretty well due to the water making them conscious of potholes and other road defects or they are slowing down since the road is slippery when wet. You don't want a skidding accident to occur. Also, you can notice that it is harder to drive with rain pouring on your front car window due to blurry visuals brought about the rain and the movement of the wipers. As of now, those are the things I experience while driving through a heavy rain.

One of the reasons is because drivers cannot see clearly in heavy rain, affecting visibility levels. If there was a torrential downpour, visibility would be enormously affected causing cars to be more acute to their surroundings. A blink of an eye or just leaving the leg a few seconds more on the pedal may cause a huge accident. This may lead to an even bigger traffic jam, and could leave a whole train of cars stuck on the highway for hours. The noise of the rain drops banging your car from above and echoing is able to drown out any other foreign sound outside of the car. This causes one to lose the sense of hearing, which is an important factor for drivers; hearing out for danger for example, if a car is blaring his or her horn at you, you wouldn't hear a thing. It would be made worse if the car is actually trying to warn you of an impending danger. there is no possible way for one to hear it, unless the car is at a close distance from you. So my point is, people would be much much much more precautious when driving in a heavy rain, thus, they would travel at a relatively slower speed, causing a continuous build up in cars until it causes a traffic jam.

Certainly the visibility factor comes into play when it rains, the less visibility the slower the cars become which then causes a knock on effect on all other roads, so one road slows down because of the rain the traffic starts to pile up causing other roads that intersect to also slow down, which then causes problems on other roads, so you get a domino effect all over and before you know it the whole town, city has come to a standstill just because of mother nature's finest!

Another reason I think is because people are afraid their car might skid since the roads are wet so they drive more slowly. It doesn't help that it is difficult to see the road, cars and your surroundings when it rains. There was once I got caught in a super long traffic jam. And when I found out the cause, I felt like laughing and cursing at the same time. There was a puddle of dirty water in the middle of the road since it had been raining that morning. After that puddle, the roads were CLEAR. Apparently the more expensive cars would move so very slowly through it. It wasn't even a deep puddle. The only reason I could think of for their lagging speed was that they didn't want to drive through it at their normal speed and risk getting their cars splashed with the water. Once they passed the puddle, they sped like nobody's business. .

I had observed my area here, too. I discovered that on raining days, the road at my area tends to have heavy traffic jam. It is due to, many people tends to wake-up late and always rush to work at the last minute. I guess this is usual sign in every places, whenever it is raining...

Hello secretbeat, I think there is more traffic when it's rainning because the cars are moving at a slow pace because of the wet floor and it takes longer than usually to get where ever you going. When it rains I take the subway because I know the traffic will be so slow especially the transit buses.

Here it does not rain often but when it does the cars have to go more slowly so maybe it seems that there are more of them on the road at one time.

Yeah, that's one thing i observed and noticed too, secret.. haha. However i dun think it's due to public transport, because they are always out there on the streets, regardless of rain or no rain. I guess the reason for heavier traffic on rainy days, is due to accidents. With poor visibility and poor control of their vehicle, it's easier to meet with accident. Imagine with dry weather, accidents are happening once every hour, and with the rain, won't it be worse?? haha

motorists used to drive safer when it's raining. as when it rains, it's wet and the road is slippery. slippery when wet so drive safe.

That is a very usual scenario here in our country. Even a 10 minute rain will cause a heavy traffic. One reason is flood, some roads tend to be flooded easily. Some vehicles also tend to move slowly since since the road is wet and to avoid accidents because of low visibility. But after the rain, that's the time that the traffic is heaviest. Because all of the passengers will be seeking vehicles at the same time.

there certainly is a connection between the two coz when there is a more rain then you tend to get stuck in a same place for a while or a long time but ya i have myself been through same situation many times

Hey! Traffic does become heavier when it rains. Maybe it is because no on wants to go outside and walk in the rain with an umbrella. So people decide to drive. They might not want to take public transport because you'll still get wet waiting for the bus and train so people choose to drive. When it rains, the weather just makes me feel kind of annoyed. maybe because I have to drive more carefully and also my vision is blocked.

road becomes bulky because people used to drive car slowly while raining..they may not view the road clearly..some vehicles may get seized in ditches or some holes in the road..when one vehicle gets struck then it creates traffic..no one will prefer bike than car because they will get drenched

I drive more carefully when it rains for all the reasons others have stated -- slippery roads, low visibility in heavy rain, and flooding where roads normally don't have problems. More accidents happen when it rains, and when they do, everyone slows down to get a good look at them. If possible, I don't drive in the rain unless I have to. I'd rather stay warm and dry inside.

That is a very usual scenario here in our country. Even a 10 minute rain will cause a heavy traffic. One reason is flood, some roads tend to be flooded easily. Some vehicles also tend to move slowly since since the road is wet and to avoid accidents because of low visibility. But after the rain, that's the time that the traffic is heaviest. Because all of the passengers will be seeking vehicles at the same time.