Bad weather — Colorado Permit Test

In rain, fog, ice, high winds and dust the two most important actions are to slow your speed and increase your following distance.

Both buy you the one thing bad weather takes away, which is time. Neither depends on what the car underneath you can do.

In weather conditions such as rain, fog, ice, high winds and dust, the two most important actions you can take are to slow your speed and increase your following distance

If the highway is wet or icy, do not use cruise control.

Cruise control keeps the power on when the wheels start to spin, which is the opposite of what a skid needs. Your foot can let go and it cannot.

If the highway is wet or icy, do not use cruise control

Do not drive through large bodies of standing water on the road, and where you see a flooded roadway find another route.

You cannot see how deep it is or whether the road under it is still there. A car floats in far less water than people expect.

If you see a flooded roadway, find another route to get to your destination

Hydroplaning happens when tires ride on water on top of the road and can cause complete loss of traction and control of steering.

The tires stop touching the road at all, so nothing you do with the wheel or the brake reaches the surface.

This is called hydroplaning and can cause complete loss of traction and control of steering

If your tires lose traction, take your foot off the gas pedal, steer slowly in the direction you are hydroplaning until you have control, and do not try to stop or turn until the tires grip again.

Any sudden input is spent the moment the tires bite again, all at once. Slow steering is what stops that from flipping the car.

Take your foot off the gas pedal to allow the vehicle to slow down

Check your tire tread depth regularly, because tires that have more wear are at increased risk of hydroplaning.

The tread is what pumps the water away. Worn down, there is nowhere for the water to go and the tire climbs on top of it.

Tires that have more wear can be at increased risk so be sure to check your tires’ tread depth regularly

What are the two most important things to do in bad weather?

Slow down and leave more following distance. Both buy you the one thing bad weather takes away, which is time. Neither depends on what the car underneath you can do. Colorado Driver Handbook, p.16: “In weather conditions such as rain, fog, ice, high winds and dust, the two most important actions you can take are to slow your speed and increase your following distance”