Indonesia has two seasons only: hot/summer/dry season and rain season. Usually there are no lots of problems when driving in summer season. But when the rain season is coming, we need to prepare everything because sometimes we will got heavy rain, flood, slippery, windy, etc. Here’s what we can do to keep safe when we’re driving in the rain season.

1. Check the vehicle. Make sure the lamps are working, replace any headlights or brake lights that are out. Also make sure windshield wipers are working correctly, and replace cracked or poor ones. Check the tires condition.
2. Turn on the lights, not hazard when it is raining. Turning on headlights when driving in the rain can increase our vision but more importantly make your car easier to see by other drivers.
3. Allocate extra time and be patient. Traffic jam is worse in bad weather while the car cannot go as fast as usual. If we can, leave earlier than usual so we have enough time to get to our destination. Drive slowly is recommended when the rain is very heavy.
4. Give enough space between our car and the car ahead. Wet streets are extremely slick and slippery. It takes longer to stop and visibility is decreased in raining so we need more gap to be safe.
5. Drive on the tracks of a vehicle ahead. The track of the ahead car is where the water level will be minimal as the car in front has already moved away the water from the track.
6. Avoid park the car below a big tree. There are many big and old trees in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandung. The risk of the trees to fall down when it is raining is much higher than on hot season. Try to avoid them as much as we can if we want to park the car.