Aquaplaning: What to do in heavy rain?
Other signs are:
- The steering becomes easier.
- The car reacts less to your steering commands.
- The engine speed increases briefly because the tires lose grip and spin.
There are also clear signs of aquaplaning outside the driving area:
- The windscreen wipers can no longer remove enough water from the windscreen.
- The lanes are not more visible.
In this case you should slow down slowly. Don’t try to brake abruptly anymore and avoid sharp steering movements.
An important tip: In order to avoid aquaplaning and to protect your tires from too much water contact, it is also advisable to use a sufficient keep a good distance from the person in front of you. This also gives you more space in the event of sudden braking. This distance can save lives, especially when it is wet.
Behave correctly in an emergency
If you lose control of the vehicle due to aquaplaning, you must behave correctly. Top priority: off the gas. Because the slower the vehicle is when aquaplaning, the faster it can regain solid contact with the ground.
If you find yourself in such a situation, you should behave as follows:
- Keep calm,
- Hold the steering wheel.
- Do not make any sharp steering movements.
- Take your foot off the gas.
- Glide across the water with the clutch depressed, until you feel the front tires regain contact with the road. With automatic transmission, it is necessary that you shift to neutral (N).
- Only brake (and then hard) to avoid a collision.
- First when the tires regain traction, you should steer carefully again.
Choosing the right tires
You can Prevent aquaplaning in advance by regularly checking the tread depth of your car’s tires. A short inspection at the nearest garage is sufficient for this. There, the profiles of the tires are tested.
The prescribed minimum depth of 1.6 millimeters may be too small to safely guide the car over water. You can also avoid aquaplaning if your tires have a minimum tread depth of four millimeters.
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