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Florida driving lesson · Special Situations and Emergencies

Rain, hydroplaning and night driving

A 3-minute lesson from the Florida course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.

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Read time
3 minutes
Course unit
Special Situations and Emergencies
Checkpoint questions
6
Source pages
80, 81

Florida rain can be sudden and heavy, and roads are slickest early in a storm when oil lifts off the pavement. At night you can't see as far, and oncoming glare makes it worse. Both call for slower speeds and more distance.

Know the rule

When you turn on your wipers, turn on your headlights. Slow down. Roads get slick in rainstorms, especially if it hasn't rained in a while because of oil build-up.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Know the rule

Wet roads increase your braking and stopping distance, so increase your following distance.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Hydroplaning

Your vehicle sliding on a thin layer of water between the tires and the road. With the tires off the road you can easily lose control and skid.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Know the rule

Low tire pressure, bad tread and speeding all increase the risk of hydroplaning.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Know the rule

If heavy rain makes your brakes wet and they pull or won't hold, slow down and press the brake pedal gently until they work again.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Know the rule

At a flooded roadway, turn around and find another route. You can't judge the depth or current, and your vehicle could be submerged or swept away.

Handbook p. 80 ↗

Florida law says you must:

  • Use headlights from sunset to sunrise
  • Dim high beams within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle
  • Dim high beams within 300 feet of a vehicle you're following
  • Never drive with only parking lights in place of headlights
  • Turn on parking lights when parked at night on a road or shoulder outside cities and towns
Handbook p. 81 ↗
Oncoming headlight glare at night
Glare from oncoming headlights reduces your vision

High beam rules

High beam rules
RuleNumber
Dim for oncoming vehicles within500 feet
Dim for vehicles ahead within300 feet
High beams reveal objects up to450 feet
High beams are most effective above25 mph
Handbook p. 81 ↗
Pedestrians within headlight range at night
High beams light the road far ahead

Night driving guidelines:

  • Don't "over drive" your headlights (drive too fast for what you can see)
  • After leaving a brightly lit area, drive slowly until your eyes adjust
  • Don't look directly at oncoming headlights; use lane lines as guides and glance at the other car
  • If a vehicle with one light approaches, drive as far right as you can; it may be missing a headlight
Handbook p. 81 ↗

Put it into practice

On a dark two-lane road with high beams on, you see headlights appear over a hill ahead. Switch to low beams before the car is within 500 feet. Later, when you come up behind a car, dim before you're within 300 feet.

Check your understanding

Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.

When you turn on your windshield wipers during rain, what else should you do?
  1. Switch to high beams
  2. Turn on your headlights
  3. Turn off your defroster
  4. Turn on your hazard lights

Answer: Turn on your headlights

When you turn on your windshield wipers, turn on your headlights as well.

Handbook p. 80 ↗
What is hydroplaning?
  1. Brakes getting wet in heavy rain
  2. Oil on the road after a dry spell
  3. Tires losing air pressure in rain
  4. Tires sliding on a thin layer of water

Answer: Tires sliding on a thin layer of water

Hydroplaning happens when your vehicle slides on top of a thin layer of water between your tires and the road.

Handbook p. 80 ↗
What should you do if you come upon a flooded roadway?
  1. Turn around and find another route
  2. Speed up to get through quickly
  3. Drive through slowly in a low gear
  4. Follow the vehicle ahead through the water

Answer: Turn around and find another route

If you come to a flooded roadway, turn around and find another route; it's impossible to determine the depth or current.

Handbook p. 80 ↗
High beam headlights are most effective at speeds faster than what?
  1. 35 mph
  2. 25 mph
  3. 45 mph
  4. 55 mph

Answer: 25 mph

High beam headlights can reveal objects up to 450 feet and are most effective for speeds faster than 25 MPH.

Handbook p. 80 ↗
Within how many feet of an oncoming vehicle must you switch from high beams to low beams?
  1. 100 feet
  2. 1,000 feet
  3. 500 feet
  4. 300 feet

Answer: 500 feet

You must not use high beam headlights within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle.

Handbook p. 81 ↗
Within how many feet of a vehicle you are following must you switch from high beams to low beams?
  1. 100 feet
  2. 500 feet
  3. 800 feet
  4. 300 feet

Answer: 300 feet

You must not use high beam headlights within 300 feet of the vehicle ahead of you.

Handbook p. 81 ↗
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