It’s officially Monsoon Season and you know what that means … wet driving conditions and the ever-present danger of hydroplaning. Since vehicle and driving safety is always top of mind at our Tempe auto repair shop, let’s look at what hydroplaning is and the things you can do to avoid it altogether.
What Is Hydroplaning?
Simply dissect the word itself and you’ll have a little clue to what hydroplaning is … ‘hydro’ refers to water and ‘plane’ refers to a flat surface. When your vehicle hydroplanes, it’s traveling across a skim layer of water on the road instead of the tires making contact with the road itself. Without proper traction, it’s easy to lose control of your vehicle and that means greater potential for vehicle damage or injury to the driver and passengers.
There are four primary factors that can cause hydroplaning:
- Wet road conditions with standing water on the road
- Insufficient tire tread depth
- Inappropriate vehicle speed for the current road conditions
- Light vehicle weight
How Can You Avoid Hydroplaning?
When you fully understand the reasons why your vehicle could hydroplane in the first place, it’s easy to see how a dangerous driving situation can be avoided. Follow these simple tips to avoid hydroplaning and improve driving safety:
- Inspect tire tread depth – One of the best preventative maintenance tips we tell our customers is to regularly inspect their tires. This includes making sure that tire tread depth is sufficient to handle whatever road conditions you’ll be driving in. To avoid hydroplaning, we recommend a tread depth of 2/32nds of an inch or greater.
- Inspect tire pressure – Driving with overinflated or underinflated tires can affect your gas mileage and also your vehicle’s ability to stay in contact with the road. Check your tire pressure regularly to ensure it’s at the proper level. If you’re not sure what the pressure should be, ask your trusted mechanic or check inside the driver’s door for the manufacturer’s recommendations.
- Slow down in inclement weather – When roads are wet, it’s more difficult to maintain traction. Whether it’s currently raining or has recently stopped, make sure your speed is appropriate for the actual road conditions. Sometimes, driving a speed that’s less than the speed limit is actually the safest.
- Follow the leader – If you’re driving on a road with other vehicles and the road is wet, follow in the tracks of the car in front of you. That vehicle will have already dispersed the water from their tracks and you can follow behind on a much dryer path.
- Follow at a safe distance – Following other traffic is fine, but remember that stopping time increases when the road is wet. Give yourself enough space between your vehicle and the one in front of you to allow for proper reaction time if they start hydroplaning or you simply need to slow down or stop.
- Avoid standing water – Whenever possible, drive around puddles and standing water instead of traveling through them.
- Forgo cruise control – Using cruise control may be one of your favorite ways to improve gas mileage – that’s certainly useful with today’s high gas prices. When driving in wet conditions, however, it’s best to leave it off. Without it, you’ll have a little more control and be able to make adjustments to speed based on current driving conditions.
Improve Driving Safety With Preventative Maintenance
Follow the tips above to avoid hydroplaning and you’ll be a safer driver in wet weather. Regardless of the road conditions, however, there are some things you can do to improve your driving safety all year long and in all weather types. What are we referring to? Preventative maintenance, of course!
With routine maintenance, small problems with your vehicle can be diagnosed and fixed before they become bigger, more expensive problems. And, some issues can be prevented altogether. Simply follow your vehicle manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule or talk to our mechanics about what services would be done when. Schedule an appointment with us today and we’ll keep you rolling safely!
