Can You Safely Ride A Motorcycle In Rainy Weather?

People travel from all over to attend Myrtle Beach Bike Week.  Their goal is to meet up with friends, burn rubber, and enjoy the Southern cuisine, but mostly to soak up the sun.  What happens if the sunshine doesn’t attend, though?  They say that April showers bring May flowers, and we can usually count on sunny weather in Myrtle Beach during Bike Week, but as every meteorologist knows, weather can be unpredictable.  A few clouds never ruined anyone’s motorcycle ride, but sometimes the Bike Week weather is much worse.  A few raindrops are not enough to rain out a bike rally that people have been anticipating all year, but then there was that time in 2015 when Hurricane Joaquin blew through South Carolina and put a damper on the biker festivities.  There is no guarantee that the sun will smile on you when you head to South Carolina on your bike, but you should use your judgment about how, if at all, to ride your motorcycle in the rain.  If you got injured in a motorcycle accident on a rainy day, contact a Columbia motorcycle accident lawyer.

Wear Rainproof Gear

If you expect heavy or persistent rain during your ride, you should wear a rain suit and waterproof boots and gloves, so that the annoying feeling of wet clothes does not distract you.  Rain suits for motorcyclists are also designed to make it easier for motorists to see you in rainy weather, even at night.  If your helmet has a dark visor, replace it with a clear visor for a rainy ride; dark visors are the safest option when riding in sunny weather, but in the rain, you want as much visibility as possible.  If your visor has an anti-fog or electric defrost function, this is even better.

Put Your Bike in Rain Mode

Some newer bikes have a rain mode function, and if your bike has this, you should use it when riding in the rain.  Even if you do not have rain mode, you should adjust your throttle to the smoothest setting.

Find a Dry Spot to Ride In

Roads do not get uniformly wet or uniformly slippery when it rains.  The slipperiest places are the manhole covers and iron gratings, and the yellow lines painted on the road are slipperier than they look.  Likewise, there is more oil on the road near intersections, since cars idle there when the lights are red.  Since most roads are not perfectly flat, some parts of the lane may be drier than others.  Staying out of the wettest and slipperiest part of the road does not require expensive equipment; it just requires focus and good judgment.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you pursue a motorcycle accident claim if you got into a collision on your motorcycle when the weather was rainy.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Sources:

myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article306331946.html

cycleworld.com/sport-rider/five-tips-for-riding-motorcycle-in-rain-0/