Posted in Car Accidents on November 14, 2019. Hydroplaning can be a stressful experience, breathing calmly before returning to the road. Hydroplaning: What It is, How to Avoid It, and What to Do if You Can’t. What To Do If Your Car Hydroplanes Posted on December 4, 2010 by Defensive Driving Team | in Defensive Driving Online. First, do not brake or accelerate suddenly. What to Do When Hydroplaning. When this happens, the response of the driver determines whether the situation can be recovered or turn worse. Steer just enough to keep the car going forward. Hit the Brakes. The effects of hydroplaning are similar to the loss of control drivers experience when driving on icy streets. Your tires are your point of contact with the road, making them your potential weakest link when it comes to hydroplaning. Hydroplaning occurs when too much water comes between the surface of the road and your vehicle’s tires. Aside from not driving too fast, you can do other things to minimize the chance of hydroplaning, such as: Maintaining and when necessary replacing your tires. Hydroplaning can be a scary experience, but there are certain steps you can take to stay as safe as possible. Preventing hydroplaning boils down to two things: having the right tire and maintaining the proper tread depth. That said, hydroplaning can still occur even if you’re traveling at speeds below 50 km/h, or even when a road is only slightly wet. First of all, don't slam on the brakes, and don't oversteer. Take Your Foot Off of The Accelerator Here are a few ways to avoid hydroplaning: Watch your speed. While it sounds impossible for a machine weighing thousands of pounds to start skimming along a thin surface of water, hydroplaning is common in the rain. Hydroplaning is a terrifying situation for even the most experienced driver. Hydroplaning normally occurs on any wet road surface, but the most treacherous time hydroplaning can occur is the first 10 minutes of light rain. Hydroplaning is typically used to refer to skidding and sliding of car tires across a wet surface. Stay calm. It occurs when water is forced under your tires, causing them to leave the surface of the roadway and you to lose control of the car. Those who have not experienced it before may think that it’s kind of like a car slipping on the road, but there’s more to it than that. In normal conditions, your tires are designed to shed water to … That can lead to a driver losing control of their vehicle. Any steering you have to do should be done very gently and slight; avoid swerving or turning hard if … In these situations, your tires hit the water faster than they can push it away, causing them to ride on top of it, which can cause a loss of control. Here are three things you should do when you hydroplane. Partial Hydroplaning. What to Do If You Hydroplane. Use Common Sense. Roads are often rich with oil residue, and when the oil mixes with rainwater, the chances of a hydroplaning accident increases. Do not hit the brakes - reduce your speed by smoothly taking your foot off of the gas pedal, engage your clutch if you are driving a manual vehicle, and let it coast to the point where the hydroplaning stops. Hydroplaning typically lasts a few seconds; then, you can regain control. Hydroplaning, which people also refer to as aquaplaning, is a phenomenon that can present a lot of danger to anyone on the road when it happens. Water pressure in the front of the wheel pushes water under the tire, and the tire is separated from the road surface by a thin film of water and ends up losing traction. “The term hydroplaning is commonly used to refer to the skidding or sliding of a car’s tires across a wet surface. Panicking will only make it harder for you to think clearly and avoid danger. Partial hydroplaning is a scary way of saying that, when the road is wet, you’ll lose some traction. How to Recover from Hydroplaning. Resist the temptation to … The first thing to do is relax, as frantic movements will only make your situation worse. Hydroplaning can happen when water flows between your car’s tires and the pavement. Despite taking all the precautions, hydroplaning can take place. In fact, hydroplaning is most dangerous during the first 10 minutes of light rain. Slow down and drive carefully when the roads are wet. When it comes to driving in the rain, common sense reigns supreme. This is because light rain mixes with oil residue on the road surface, creating slippery conditions that can cause vehicles, particularly those travelling at … While freak accidents and car failure are frightening, the loss of traction in wet conditions can be just as frightening, as it happens quickly and occurs without warning. When you’re hydroplaning, your brakes won’t work, and in fact slamming on your brakes can actually cause this loss of control. If you keep your head and don't panic, the situation is manageable. But what can you do to prevent hydroplaning? All seasons are usually a safe choice, but not all tires are created equal. Once you have regained control, you may want to pull over to a safe space and take a moment to calm down. Sometimes, no matter how careful you are, hydroplaning occurs. As a person might imagine, this situation is extremely dangerous, since the vehicle is out of the driver's control while it slides. What to Do if You Hydroplane Panicking makes your brain focus on the situation not the solution. If you feel like your car is starting to slide over a wet road, do not panic. Hydroplaning can be a scary and dangerous experience. The best response is to stay calm because hard braking or speeding up out of panic will lead to skidding. Do not panic. When you stay calm, you can think quickly and more clearly. Hydroplaning (also known as “aquaplaning”) happens when the tires of your vehicle begin to ride on top of standing water instead of the surface of the road resulting in loss of contact with the ground, slippage or even complete loss of control of the vehicle. Hydroplaning happens when a tire receives more rain than it can expel. Hydroplaning, or aquaplaning, is the most dangerous road hazard which can easily cause accidents. As you feel your car lose contact with the road, calmly but firmly grip the steering wheel with both hands. Hydroplaning can cause quite scary situations and there is nothing wrong with needing a moment or two to recover from a near-miss. Even if all precautions fail and you do wind up hydroplaning, stay calm. But what should you do if you start hydroplaning anyway? What Not to Do When You Hydroplane. Hydroplaning happens when water on the surface of the road separates the tires from the ground, causing it to lose traction. Chances of hydroplaning increase when driving above 45 mph on roads with a water depth as little as 1/10". These types of situations can have quite an effect on you, emotionally and mentally. These are the steps you can take to regain control if you should begin hydroplaning on a wet surface. Do not make any quick or sharp turns, avoid hard braking, and like we said above, do not speed or pass other motorists. 4 Wheel Drive and Hydroplaning. While hydroplaning my sound like a fun water sport, it’s actually incredibly dangerous. According to the American Safety Council, the first 10 minutes can be the most dangerous when driving in heavy rain. Hydroplaning occurs when a tire encounters more water than it can scatter. No matter how safe of a driver you may be, hydroplaning can still occur. Hydroplaning can also happen when water can't drain off the road quickly enough (during a heavy downpour, for example) or when there are low spots in the road that allow puddles to form. Here are some do's and don'ts for managing these moments safely. Hydroplaning or aquaplaning happens when the tires of a vehicle lose traction on a wet roadway, causing the car to drift like a sled until the wheels gain traction again. Let’s take a look at what causes hydroplaning first and go from there. How To Avoid Hydroplaning. Staying calm is key to getting yourself through this frightening experience. If you feel you need to pull over and take a few deep breaths, then do so. How to Avoid Hydroplaning. There are two scenarios at play here with regards to 4 wheel drives, hydroplaning and wet roads. Also sudden acceleration could pull the vehicle straight ahead which could be dangerous if the vehicle is pointed toward the edge of the roadway. Before covering what you should do when you hydroplane, let's talk about some of the things that you definitely should not do. Simply let off the throttle and coast through any hydroplaning situation. The water prevents tires from gripping the road, which can lead to a loss of steering control and accidents. This is called hydroplaning, and it’s more common than you think. Most of us have experienced some form of hydroplaning, which refers to the skidding or sliding of a car’s tires across a wet surface. Hold the steering wheel firmly, and keep the nose of vehicle pointed straight ahead. If you don’t, you may end up fully hydroplaning and losing all traction - which is way more scary and dangerous. Panic. Don’t panic. 1. If you find yourself hydroplaning, the last thing you want to do is panic and make an impulsive decision that could result in an accident– or worse! Hydroplaning is not a drawn-out process, so you will not have to wait long…but if you do, just remember to stay calm, and maintain your car’s positioning. Final Thoughts. Thus, hydroplaning can actually cause you to lose complete control of your vehicle, spin out, or even crash into an obstacle or another motorist. Essentially, hydroplaning occurs when a car’s tires lose contact with the road; driving a car that is hydroplaning is similar to driving on ice. Instead, take the following steps to regain control and avoid a disaster. There are several things you can do to avoid hydroplaning, including: 1. Hydroplaning can occur on any wet road surface. Unfortunately, there are times that hydroplaning will occur no matter how careful you are. Of course, it's not actually possible to measure water depth while you're driving, and hydroplaning can happen on any wet road surface, so be safe and treat all wet roads as potential hydroplaning zones. 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