When the roads are wet and slick, driving can be significantly more dangerous. It is important to be cautious while driving in adverse road conditions, but you also need to make sure your vehicle is up to the task. Here’s why your tires play such a large role in accidents on wet roads.

What Is Tread?

Have you ever heard somebody tell you to stick a penny in the grooves in your tires to determine whether or not it’s time for a replacement? What you’re doing is checking the tread, which is what allows your tires to grip the road and you to drive. Over time, this tread wears off and your tires lose their ability to grip the road—especially when conditions are less than ideal.

Whether you’ve done the penny test to check your tread or had your tires examined by a professional at a tire shop, you need to replace your tires if the tread is running low.

Driving in the Rain

A lot of people don’t worry about road conditions until it’s snowing or icy, but rain can present serious issues too. This is especially true if the weather has been dry for a while and rain is falling for the first time in weeks, as the roads are extra slippery then.

If it’s raining while you’re driving, you should always exercise caution. A little bit of light rain is often fine to drive in, but any spot where there’s a drainage issue could spell trouble. The best move is to air on the side of caution no matter what if you’re driving in the rain, because the roads are often worse than you expect them to be. You should also be careful not to take any sharp corners or put yourself in situations where you need to brake quickly.

Just in Case

Accidents can happen, especially on the road. However, you need to settle things after an accident. If you’ve recently been in an auto-related accident and need a personal injury lawyer to represent you, give The Troutman Law Firm a call at (407) 647-5002.