What is Aquaplaning and How to Avoid It

One of the most challenging surfaces to drive on is objectively wet/slippery driving conditions.

A risk and sometimes result of driving on wet surfaces is aquaplaning, that terrifying loss of control on wet roads which can happen to even the most experienced drivers and the most reliable tyres.

This unnerving experience occurs when your tyres lose contact with the road surface, essentially riding on a layer of water.

Understanding what causes aquaplaning and knowing how to prevent it is crucial for staying safe behind the wheel, especially during heavy rain or flooding.

This article will explain aquaplaning, detail the risk factors, and provide practical advice to help you avoid this dangerous situation.

What is aquaplaning?

Aquaplaning, also known as hydroplaning, is when water is built up within a vehicle’s tyre, further separating contact between the tyre and the surface in which a vehicle is driving on.

This will happen when the water is not being dispersed from the tyre’s tread quickly enough, leading to a loss of traction and control.

Many cases of aquaplaning can result in extreme difficulty to steer, making the vehicle sometimes impossible to drive and control, particularly in more severe levels of aquaplaning.

If you’re not vigilant in your driving throughout wet and slippery surfaces, aquaplaning can be extremely hazardous, potentially leading to complete loss of control and serious road accidents.

To better understand how to avoid this potential hazard, it’s important to know what can cause aquaplaning when driving in wet conditions.

How does aquaplaning happen?

As touched on, aquaplaning will occur when you’re driving on wet surfaces, but what factors contribute to aquaplaning?

There’s a lot more to aquaplaning than just driving in wet weather, such as the following:

• Speed: If you’re driving on wet surfaces at high speeds, you’ll be increasing the risk of aquaplaning as more water is encountered making it harder for tyres to disperse of the water. It is recommended to reduce your typical speed by around a third to avoid the risk of aquaplaning.
• Tyre condition: The condition of tyre is another factor when discussing aquaplaning. Risk of an aquaplaning related accident will increase if your tyres have shallow tread depth as they have less surface area to channel water away.
• Tyre pressure: Not having the optimal tread depth on your tyres further increases the chances of aquaplaning. This is through the reduction of contact between the road and tyre. The legal tyre tread depth limit is 1.6mm, which is the minimum your tyres should be at all times.
• Water depth: The depth of water in which you’re driving through also contribute to aquaplaning. Depths as little as 2.5mm can contribute to the risk of aquaplaning.

Factors contributing to aquaplaning can happen to anyone, especially in countries like the UK where it seems to be raining more times than not!

Knowing how these factors contribute to risks of aquaplaning is important so you can be prepared to tackle each factor accordingly.

How do I know if my car is aquaplaning?

If one of the factors mentioned above has affected your driving capabilities, there’s a good chance your car is suffering from aquaplaning.

But what do you need to look out for to know if your car is aquaplaning?

Well, you'll simply know your car is aquaplaning by several distinct occurrences:

• Loss of steering control: Your vehicle will feel incredibly unstable and difficult to steer. This is through the lack of contact between the tyre and driving surface, making your tyre drift or slide upon trying to control the steering.
• Loss of braking control: Less efficient braking indicates your vehicle is experiencing aquaplaning. Difficulty in slowing down or stopping your vehicle is a factor in losing your braking control, which can be caused by aquaplaning.
• Louder noises coming from your engine: If your engine is making different high pitched noises, it could mean you’re aquaplaning. This may indicate a loss of traction between the tyres and the road.
• Feeling of light steering: Loss of traction also contributes to a feeling of lightness when steering your vehicle. This can make the car feel like it’s floating or skating across the surfaces.

With the knowledge of knowing what to expect when your car is potentially aquaplaning, you should know how to avoid these potentially dangerous situations.

How to avoid aquaplaning

Now you know what aquaplaning is and understand what might occur to indicate that you are aquaplaning, taking the right steps in ensuring you avoid it altogether will decrease the risk of it happening.

Please consider the following to avoid aquaplaning:

• Lower your speeds: As mentioned beforehand, you are recommended to decrease your typical speeds by about a third upon heavy rainfall. Take this recommendation on board and try to drive as cautiously as possible to avoid the chance of aquaplaning.
• Proper tyre maintenance and checks: Ensure your tyres are properly inflates and have a sufficient tread depth. It’s recommended you consult with your vehicle’s recommended tyre pressure, with tread depth being at the bare minimum 1.6mm.
• New tyres: If your current tyres are needing to be changed, buy tyres online at Blackcircles.com. We offer a wide range of tyre models from the world’s leading tyre brands that are available to order today.
• Winter/all-season tyres: The best performing tyres during these driving seasons are winter tyres and all-season tyres. Whilst all-season tyres provide great performance across all weather conditions, winter tyres are specially made for the winter season, being developed with anti-aquaplaning technology and providing excellent reliability on wet and icy road surfaces.
• Ease off the accelerator and don’t oversteer: If you feel like you’re aquaplaning based on what we’ve covered in this article, make sure you don’t oversteer and ease off the accelerator. Avoid jerky movements with the steering wheel, as calm and gentle steering may help with gaining more control. Easing off the accelerator will aid the tyres in gaining more contact with the road.

By thoroughly taking the steps necessary to avoid aquaplaning, the chances of a road accident related to wet conditions will drastically decrease.

Remember and don’t panic if you feel like you’re aquaplaning, take your time in steering, braking, and accelerating to further recue the risk of extreme aquaplaning.

This way you can drive safely, no matter what driving conditions you are facing!