Earth -- A 36 year old female had an accident and totaled her car. It was raining, though not excessively, when her vehicle suddenly began to hydro-plane and literally flew through the air. She was injured, but not seriously.

Editor’s note: I always have to questions the minds of those sick enough to use a joke like that? She was injured – but not seriously!

When she explained to the highway patrolman what had happened he told her something that every driver should know…

NEVER DRIVE IN THE RAIN WITH YOUR CRUISE CONTROL ON!

She thought she was being cautious by setting the cruise control and maintaining a safe consistent speed in the rain.

But the patrolman told her that if the cruise control is on when your car begins to hydro-plane and your tires lose contact with the pavement, your vehicle will accelerate to a higher rate of speed making you take off like an airplane. She told the officer that was exactly what had occurred.

We tell our teenagers to set the cruise control and drive a safe speed - but we don't tell them to use it only when the pavement is dry.

NOTE: Some vehicles (like the Toyota Sienna Limited XLE) will not allow you to set the cruise control when the windshield wipers are on.


Now wait a minute!

You want me to tell TEENAGERS that if they set their cruise controls and drive in the rain -- THEIR CARS WILL FLY?

And thanks to the brains at Toyota, and others, we’ll also have teenagers flying in the rain blindly without using windshield wipers.

We better keep our heads down!

Actually you never want the cruise control on in any emergency situation, simply because it keeps accelerating the vehicle forward.

By George