Why do people drive in flooded areas?

[Mokel]

There are a couple of low lying areas a few miles where I live. They get flooded first. Every time these get flooded, there’s always an idiot drives through the flood. Car conks out.

They should know that insurance will not pay out for their stupidity.

Though if parked in a car park all day and the CP floods during that time, that’s different,

People Mistake a flood for a puddle

People are under pressure ( real or self inflicted ) so take a chance

Everyone knows a car and its steel cage provides a cloak of invulnerability which completely shields you from the dangers of the outside world. That and the fact that accidents/consequences only happen to other people.

Desperation and stupidity are the only reasons I can think of

I mean why do people carry on burning fossil fuels ?
Why do people overeat and under exercise ?

So their inevitably lost registration plate can join the leaderboard of shame on their local FB group?

This one isn't too hard to work out. People not from the area will have a hard time judging the depth of the water. They also may not be at fault if someone driving toward them goes too fast and throws the water into their air intake.

The people who drove through a flooded road near us in one of last year’s storms sending bow waves into already flood properties did it because they are selfish pricks 🤬. They ignored the road closed signs , the flood wardens and the police !! 🤬

It's obvious surely 👀

They have way to much money 💰 and can easily afford to buy a new car every time it rains 🤔

Oh how the other half live 😞

It's not always obvious how deep the water is until it's too late.

Its hard to judge the water depth.

Plus people are busy and need to get where they are going. Otherwise they would not be in the car in the first place.

It must be nice never to make a mistake or misjudge a situation.

They think it's worth chancing it rather than having to do a detour.

I think it's easy to misjudge - where I live the drains get blocked sometimes and it flood onto the road but very shallow and you can drive through it, slowly of course. I could potentially misjudge it if the flood were ever worse.

It does annoy me when people drive through too fast or even through puddles fast when I'm a pedestrian. If you can see the road surface is wet, slow down.

It's also not easy to turn around in queues of traffic that are all out of their lanes because of the flood. People also don't get taught to drive in floods. Lots of reasons!

That would be a reason not to do it, yeah?

They can’t be bothered/don’t have time/don’t know how to divert around it and take the chance.

Where I live floods regularly. The road gets closed and people still move the road closed signs and barriers so that they can drown their Vauxhall Astra that they have oddly decided is capable of going through the water that is deep enough to close a road.

I assume you've never done anything silly or never made a mistake?

It happens. I don't think most people are fucking their cars up on purpose

I think this thread sums it up, people are either:

a) Uninformed about the depth of the water and ignorant of the wading depth of their car.

Eg, a New JLR Defender has a max wading depth of 90cm. Then it floats and it's a 2 tonne+ commercial vehicle so what chance does your Fiat 500 stand?

b) They are dickheads who think they know better...can't be bothered to go round or actively want to go through flood water because it's fun.

I grew up in an area that floods regularly. I knew a lot of the b) types and they were generally your basic arsehole, who also has blinding headlights and is a bit thick.

I’ll never understand it. I live near a part of the River Roding that submerges the road in multiple places every winter. I don’t even attempt it. Not even in the bits I know are shallow. As soon as I reach a bit where it has breached the fields onto the road I turn around and go back the other way. Google Buttsbury Wash (river Wid, Essex). Practically every picture is of a submerged car at the same ford. Multiple times a day at certain times of the year car after car tries to drive through it. Madness.

Floods very in depth, cars vary in their ability to cope with them. I had a regularly flooding road near me where I used to live, it saved me 10-15 mins journey time each way, i regularly drove past the road closed signs because I was high clearance. I now have a different car and wouldn't dream of trying on that road. The problem is i could have been caught out couldn't I!

To get to the other side.

Most comprehensive insurance will cover flood damage so don't know where you have that idea.

And it’s people like you who think they know best that causes issues. We have muppets like this near me when the road floods, moving barriers and driving through

you immediately invalidate your insurance and leave yourself open to a ticket from the police for during through road closed signs. Your vehicle may have clearance but you have no idea what’s in that flood water that could cause damage/hit your car

Not if you drive though an obviously flooded road. Or through the road closed barriers

Depends on the policy.
You may be held partly liable but you don't 'immediately invalidate' insurance, that's just not accurate.