Slippery When Wet

Here's a little something that was discovered in I-35 the other morning. When the roads are wet with rain, it's not safe to try and get bumper to bumper at 70 mph.

This wasn't previously known. Traction has never been believed to vary between dry pavement and wet, but multiple pile-ups proved a relationship.



A ten car pile-up in the northbound lanes near I-435 had traffic backed up to Santa Fe, where another five cars got into it when it turned out that going from 70 mph to standing still is harder to do on wet pavement than dry.



It took me over an hour and a half to get to work that day, so I surely hope folks remember this next time the roads are wet. It's commuting, not NASCAR, you're not allowed to draft.