Oooh, that sounds scary, DMB. Hope you feel better soon. (Ribs can take a while to heal...I had a bad cold back in July and pulled a muscle in my ribcage from coughing, it still bothers me a little bit even now.)

I believe that when you encounter cracks in the road, or other things that might swallow a tire (such as RR crossings) you should take them at as close to a 90-degree angle as you can. If you're riding in the same direction as the crack, and the crack is wide enough, the tire's gonna catch in there and cause you to crash.

Also, I'm thinking that if there was only a light rain, so that the pavement still looked dry, it's likely your husband is right -- a light rain only makes the roads slicker, it takes a heavy rain to wash road oils away.

Heal up soon!