Floods fog and wipers — North Carolina Permit Test

Never drive through standing water on a roadway: the water may be deeper than it looks, the road may be washed away, and six inches of fast-moving water can sweep a car off the highway while 12 inches can float it.

You cannot see the road under the water, and you cannot see the current. Half of flood deaths are drivers who tried anyway.

There have been reports that six inches of fast moving water can sweep a car off the highway and 12 inches of fast moving water can float a car or cause it to turn over.

Since 1970, inland flooding has caused 85 percent of the deaths from tropical weather in North Carolina, and half of those deaths were people driving into known flooded roads.

The storm itself kills few people. The flooded road the next morning kills most of them, and half were in cars.

Since 1970, inland flooding has been responsible for 85 percent of deaths associated with tropical weather in North Carolina. Half of these deaths were caused by people driving into known flooded roads.

All North Carolina motorists are required to use headlights whenever they are using windshield wipers because of bad weather.

If it is raining hard enough for wipers, it is raining hard enough to hide you. The headlights make you visible.

All North Carolina motorists are required to use headlights whenever they are using windshield wipers due to inclement weather.

In fog, turn on the low-beam headlights, reduce speed, and watch for the taillights of the vehicle ahead and the vehicles behind you.

High beams light up the fog itself and throw it back at you. Low beams reach under it to the road.

If you must drive during fog: • Turn on the low beam headlights;

If fog makes it extremely hard to see, pull far off the roadway, stop, secure the vehicle, turn on the emergency flashers, and leave the vehicle from the passenger side, staying away from the road.

A car stopped in fog is a car nobody can see. The flashers help, and getting out on the safe side keeps you off the road.

Leave the vehicle from the passenger side and stay away from the road.

How much fast-moving water can sweep a car off the road?

About six inches. You cannot see the road under the water, and you cannot see the current. Half of flood deaths are drivers who tried anyway. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.73: “There have been reports that six inches of fast moving water can sweep a car off the highway and 12 inches of fast moving water can float a car or cause it to turn over.”