Driving in Bad Weather: Rain, Sun Glare, and Reduced Visibility
Bad weather driving isn’t just a winter topic — rain, sun glare, and fog show up year-round, and each one changes what your eyes, tires, and following distance can actually rely on. None of it requires special skill, just knowing what’s different and adjusting for it deliberately.
People think of “bad driving conditions” as a winter thing, but rain creates a completely different risk that has nothing to do with snow or ice. Hydroplaning happens because of water, not cold or a slippery surface — it can catch you off guard on a warm July afternoon just as easily as during a fall storm.
Hydroplaning: What’s Actually Happening
Your tire tread exists specifically to channel water out from under the tire as it rolls. When water builds up faster than the tread can move it — because of speed, standing water depth, or worn tread — a thin layer of water forms between the tire and the road, and the tire briefly rides on top of it instead of gripping the pavement. That’s hydroplaning: your steering and braking stop responding normally because the tire isn’t actually touching the road.
is roughly where hydroplaning risk starts climbing, according to tire-safety research — lower with worn tread or deeper standing water, and it can happen well below highway speed in the wrong conditions.
If it happens: ease off the gas gently, don’t brake, and keep the steering wheel straight and steady. Braking or turning sharply while the tires have no grip usually makes things worse, not better. Traction typically returns within a second or two once your speed drops enough for the tread to reconnect with the road.
Turn off cruise control in rain or on wet roads. It’s built to hold your set speed no matter what the tires are doing underneath you — which is exactly the wrong response the moment traction gets unpredictable. You want to be the one easing off the gas, not a system quietly holding steady while you lose grip.
Headlights: The Law, Not Just a Suggestion
In Ontario, headlights are legally required any time visibility drops below 150 metres due to rain, fog, or snow — and whenever your wipers are in continuous use. That’s not just a good idea, it’s the Highway Traffic Act. One detail that catches people off guard: daytime running lights don’t turn on your rear lights. If it’s raining and you’re only running on DRLs, the driver behind you may not be able to see your tail lights at all, even though your own view looks fine from the driver’s seat.
Most provinces have a similar reduced-visibility headlight requirement in their own Highway Traffic Act equivalent — confirm your specific province’s rule rather than assuming Ontario’s exact wording applies everywhere.
Driving in Fog
Use low beams, not high beams. High beams shine upward and reflect directly back off the water droplets in fog, which actually reduces your visibility rather than improving it — low beams point down and stay under most of the fog layer. Increase your following distance well beyond normal, use the right edge line of the road as a visual reference if the centre line gets hard to see, and slow down before you’re in a section of road you can’t see through, not after.
Sun Glare
Low-angle sun near sunrise and sunset is often more dangerous than most weather, precisely because it’s easy to underestimate. A few things genuinely help: keep your visor down before glare becomes a problem, not after; keep the inside of your windshield clean, since interior film and dust scatter low-angle light far worse than most drivers realize; and increase your following distance during peak glare periods, since you may not see brake lights ahead as clearly or as early as you think.
Before You Even Start Driving
- Check your tire tread regularly — the same tread that affects hydroplaning risk affects grip in every wet-weather situation
- Keep washer fluid topped up and rated for the season — see our Winter Driving guide for more on seasonal vehicle checks
- Replace wiper blades that streak or skip — a worn blade in heavy rain is a genuine visibility problem, not just an annoyance
Building the Habit
The same approach that works for any driving skill works here: notice a specific bad-weather situation, adjust deliberately (following distance, speed, headlights), see how it goes, and repeat until the adjustment happens automatically rather than as an afterthought.
- Notice the specific condition (rain, fog, glare)
- Make the deliberate adjustment (speed, distance, lights)
- Notice whether it actually felt safer
- Repeat until it’s automatic, not a special case you have to remember
A Quick Self-Check
- Do you turn your headlights on the moment visibility drops, or only once it’s obviously dark?
- Do you know roughly what your tire tread depth actually is right now?
- Would you recognize hydroplaning if it started, and do you know not to brake if it does?
- Is the inside of your windshield actually clean, not just the outside?
The Bottom Line
Rain, fog, and glare each change one specific thing — traction, visibility, or your own reaction time — and each has a specific, learnable adjustment. None of it requires special skill, just recognizing the condition early enough to actually respond to it rather than reacting after the fact. Also avoid distracted driving — reduced visibility and distraction together are a serious combination.
Keep your following distance sharp too
See how following distance and reaction time actually work together in our full guide.
See Following Distance Guide