How should you drive on wet or icy roads?

Prepare for the California DMV Traffic School Test. Study with interactive quizzes, flashcards, and understand with detailed explanations. Get cleared for your driving confidently!

On wet or icy roads, tires have much less grip, so your priorities are to slow down, increase the distance to the vehicle ahead, and make smooth, gradual inputs to braking and steering. This helps you maintain traction and gives you more time to react if the road conditions change, reducing the risk of skidding or losing control. Slamming on the brakes or jerking the steering can push you into a skid because the tires can’t grip the surface well enough to stop or turn safely. Driving at normal speed with cruise control doesn’t adapt to slick patches and can lead to unexpected acceleration or braking that's hard to manage. Accelerating to reach your destination faster just increases the chance of losing control, and using high beams on wet roads can cause glare and impair visibility for you and other drivers.