Hydroplaning can cause your vehicle to skid. It is caused by…?
- Flat tires
- Overinflated tires
- Ice on roadway
- Your tires riding on top of the water ✓
Answer: D. Your tires riding on top of the water
Hydroplaning happens when your tires ride on top of the water instead of gripping the road.
Why this is the answer
The handbook describes how rain makes tires lose contact with the road surface. When there is too much water, or you are going too fast, the tires can ride on top of the water like water skis, and that is what hydroplaning means. With the tires no longer touching the pavement, control becomes very difficult. The handbook's advice follows from this: keep tires in good shape with deep tread and slow down on wet roads.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Flat tires — Flat tires are not what the handbook names as the cause; a puddle may flatten a tire, but that is a separate problem from hydroplaning.
- B. Overinflated tires — Overinflation is not mentioned in the passages at all; hydroplaning comes from water between the tires and the road, not from tire pressure.
- C. Ice on roadway — Ice is a slippery surface that can cause skids, but hydroplaning is specifically about water, not ice.
Remember it
Picture your tires as water skis: hydroplaning is water carrying the tire, not the tire holding the road.
Official handbook: Official MTO Driver's Handbook, Driving at night and in bad weather – Rain