by Trisha Orlando

Created on: February 21, 2008

What to Do if Your Car Hydroplanes

DON'T HIT THE BRAKES! DO NOT STEER!
Let off the gas slowly.

When a car hydroplanes, it means the wheels have left the road surface and are suspended on water. No amount of braking or steering is going to help. Reducing speed, slowly, will force the tires back on the ground. If done suddenly, the car will be likely to start spinning.

It's a hard and scary lesson to learn. If drivers watch for signs of possible hydroplaning spots on the road, the driver can avoid having to change their underwear when they get home.

Even the best tires in the world will not prevent some instances of hydroplaning. On the same token, having bad tires can increase the risk of the car reacting like a water-skier to a body of water.

Black ice is the worse cause of hydroplaning. What looks like blacktop can actually be some shiny new ice that looks black. It's one of the most feared hazards on the road, especially in the Midwest and in mountains.

* CRUISE CONTROL - Facts and Fiction *
When traveling on wet or icy roads, drivers should not use cruise control. By being aware of the road conditions and proceeding with caution drivers can have a safe ride.

There was a email floating around regarding the internet that claimed by using cruise control, it can actually cause the vehicle to accelerate through the air. This claim is not completely true.

It's not the cruise control that can cause further complications, it's the time and process the driver must take to stop the cruise control. Most drivers wouldn't think to turn the cruise control off, they would automatically hit the brakes to turn it off. Hitting the brake too quickly is where the problem lies.

It's also easier for a driver to get too relaxed when using cruise control and precious reaction time seconds can be lost.

If you think about it, the cruise control would automatically reduce the speed of the motor. Once the wheels of the car are air born, the absence of traction would allow them to spin faster, the cruise control would sense that the revolutions are higher than the desired set speed and would immediately pull the throttle back.

Common sense if the best defense for all driving ethics.

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