Hydroplaning

I had a scary, yet educational experience driving to Auburn from my home this past Monday night. As I was driving down highway 280 I hit a large puddle of standing water. When it hit the water I hydroplaned and lost the steering control of the vehicle for a few seconds. I was mindful of the fluid mechanic principle behind this scary experience. When my tires hit the water a small layer of water formed between my tires and the road. This made frictional coefficient between my tires and the road very small. Friction forces are important because these forces give the driver control over the vehicle. A few parameters that affect hydroplaning include: the depth of the standing water and the tread depth of your tires. The deeper the water and the shallower your tread depth, the more likely you are to hydroplane and lose control of your vehicle.