Water & Motor Vehicles Don’t Mix!
🚗💧 Water and Vehicles Don’t Mix (Except at a Car Wash): The Hidden Dangers of Costa Rica’s Wet Roads and Tropical Downpours
When rain falls, most drivers instinctively slow down—but few truly grasp how treacherous water can be for vehicles. From subtle skids to catastrophic floods, brake failures to visibility loss, water transforms roads into unpredictable hazards.
And our tropical Costa Ballena downpours sure test the skills and preparedness of derivers on a regular basis! Here’s why water and vehicles are a dangerous combination—and how to stay safe when the skies open up.
↩️🚗 Hydroplaning: The Silent Slide
Hydroplaning (or Aquaplaning) occurs when a vehicle’s tires lose contact with the road due to a thin layer of water. Instead of gripping the asphalt, the tires glide across the surface like skis on ice. This can happen at speeds as low as 55 kph or 35 mph. And is especially likely during the first 10 minutes of light rain when oil residue mixes with water.
Motorcycles gain stability from narrow tires with rounded, canoe-like contact patches. These tires concentrate weight over a smaller area and push water aside more effectively. As a result, they resist aquaplaning better than wider designs. This advantage fades on lightweight motorcycles with naturally wide tires, such as supersport models.
What makes hydroplaning worse:
- Worn tire treads
- High speeds
- Poorly drained roads
- Sudden braking or sharp turns
How to prevent it:
- Slow down in wet conditions
- Avoid puddles and outer lanes
- Maintain proper tire pressure
- Steer gently and avoid cruise control
❄️🚗 Skidding (Fishtailing) and Reduced Traction
Even without full hydroplaning, wet roads reduce friction. Braking distances increase, steering becomes less responsive, and sudden maneuvers can send your car into a spin. This is especially true on curves, painted surfaces, or roads with poor drainage.
During fishtailing, the rear end of the car skids to one side. This must be offset by the driver counter-steering, which is turning the front wheels in the same direction as the skid, (e.g. left if the rear swings left). Reducing engine power is also necessary. Over-correction will result in a skid in the opposite direction; hence the name. Without a proper driver’s reaction, the fishtailing vehicle will spin completely.
In cars, a skid may be recoverable. On motorcycles, the same slide often leads to a fall. Riders must stay alert, reduce speed, and avoid sudden maneuvers to maintain traction.
Best practices:
- Increase following distance
- Brake gradually
- Avoid abrupt lane changes
- Drive in the tracks of vehicles ahead
🌊🚗 Flash Floods, River Crossings & Swept-Away Vehicles
Water doesn’t just reduce traction—it can overpower vehicles entirely. Just 6 inches of fast-moving water can knock over a person, and 12 inches can sweep away a small car. SUVs and trucks aren’t immune either. Floodwaters hide debris, eroded roads, and strong currents that can trap or flip vehicles. And they are DEADLY. Do not become s STATISTIC.
Most of us have made an important decision as we watched floodwaters spill over local roads – many times. And we will continue to make these critical decisions in the upcoming months and years. That is the reality of our area – bridges are sparse and ford-type river crossings are common. Low lying roads flood, some after every moderate or heavy rainfall. We evaluate the situation and decide to either drive forward, wait, or turn around. We know the local conditions. Let’s pray we will always make the right decision.
Best advice – never drive through flooded roads.
- Depth is deceptive—what looks shallow may be deep
- Currents can push vehicles sideways
- Engines can stall, trapping occupants
- Rescue may be impossible once swept away
🧐🚗 Visibility Loss: When Sight Becomes Guesswork
Rain doesn’t just soak the road—it blinds the driver. Heavy downpours, mist, and spray from other vehicles can drastically reduce visibility, turning familiar routes into guesswork. Even light rain can distort depth perception and obscure hazards such as potholes, landslips, pedestrians, or stalled vehicles.
What makes visibility worse:
- High-speed spray from trucks and buses
- Fogged-up windshields and side mirrors
- Poor wiper performance or worn blades
- Dirty or muddy surface water
- Low light conditions at dawn, dusk, or during storms
How to improve visibility:
- Use headlights—not just daytime running lights—to increase contrast
- Replace wiper blades regularly and top off windshield washer fluid
- Defog windows with climate control or anti-fog treatments
- Keep a safe distance to reduce spray and reaction time
Bonus tip: Avoid driving with high beams in rain or fog—they reflect off water droplets and worsen glare.
🔗 More Info – Fog 🔗 More Info – Various Cases of Reduced Visibility
⛔🚗 Brake Failure: When Stopping Power Disappears
Water doesn’t just affect traction—it can compromise your ability to stop altogether. In wet conditions, brakes may respond sluggishly, unevenly, or not at all. This is especially true after driving through deep puddles or floodwaters. That’s because water can infiltrate brake components and reduce friction between pads and rotors.
What makes brake failure worse:
- Sudden immersion in water (e.g., driving through standing floodwater)
- Worn brake pads or corroded components
- Infrequent maintenance or delayed response to warning signs
- Heavy braking on steep, wet descents
How to reduce the risk:
- Test brakes gently after driving through water—tap them lightly to dry the pads
- Schedule regular brake inspections, especially before rainy seasons
- Avoid hard braking in wet conditions; slow down gradually
- Use engine braking (downshifting) on hills to reduce strain
Bonus tip: If your brakes feel spongy or unresponsive after water exposure, pull over safely and allow them to dry before continuing. Never assume they’ll “fix themselves” while driving.
🏖️🚗 Parked by the Sea, Swept by the Tide
⛔ FIRSTLY – driving & parking on beaches, within 50 meters of high tide line, is ILLEGAL in Costa Rica. But sometimes even legal beachside carparks and roads can become flooded due to storm surges, king tides, and various other events.⛔
Beaches may seem like the perfect spot to park—scenic, spacious, and close to the action. But beneath the beauty lies a serious threat: flooding. Whether from rising tides, storm surges, or sudden downpours, water can damage or destroy vehicles parked too close to the shoreline – or even seemingly far away.
The beach can change – and quickly!
Tides shift constantly, and many beachgoers underestimate how quickly water can rise. A car parked on hard-packed sand at low tide may be fully submerged just hours later. The softening sand may make escape impossible long before the tide swallows the car. Even gentle waves can creep inland and flood the undercarriage, especially on flat beaches with shallow gradients. And rainfall can turn a beachside creek into a roaring river that swallows the sands (and the car).
What makes beachside flooding worse:
- Spring tides and full moon cycles
- Storms or cyclones offshore
- Sudden downpours or storms onshore
- Shallow beach slopes and poor drainage
- Lack of visible tide markers or warnings
How to avoid it:
- Check tide charts before parking
- Park well above the high tide line
- Avoid low-lying beach access roads
- Don’t park near beachside creeks & low lying areas
- Watch for wet sand or seaweed—signs of recent flooding
- BEST: Keep the above in mind and only park in designated beachside parking areas. NEVER venture into the sands – that is also illegal.
We love our tropical days and lush jungles – the animal life, plants, trees and orchids. And all this life needs a decent dose of rain! And here, when it rains, it can POUR! The refreshing showers cool us off and water our gardens. But they also create interesting & challenging driving conditions. It’s all about local knowledge, experience, caution and common sense – you’ll be fine! Come and experience our amazing tropics – visit our RE/MAX WE SELL PARADISE website to view the hot properties in our local area.
