You will always stop in time if you are travelling at the posted speed limit in heavy rain.

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No matter how anxious you are to get to your destination, or how badly you want to get home after a weekend please:

stick to the speed limit
take regular breaks
be patient in heavy traffic and;
stay alert.

Don’t let your holiday or weekend away, end in a tragedy.

Slow down

Posted speed limits are the maximum speed a driver should reach in good conditions. If conditions are hazardous, drivers should always reduce their speed accordingly. Increase your braking distance by leaving ample room between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you.

Apply your brakes in a steady and controlled manner. Braking hard and suddenly in wet weather can cause you to lose control. Do not accelerate quickly after stopping; apply gentle pressure to your accelerator to avoid skidding.

Visibility

Seeing and being seen is crucial. Turn on your headlights to increase visibility in foggy conditions. Ensure your windscreen wipers are working effectively and your vehicle is mechanically sound.

Be patient

Traffic volume on the road increases over the holiday periods. Allow extra time to travel to your destination.

In bad weather do not attempt to cross a flooded road, bridge or causeway; you never know what the water depth, flow or road damage might be. Never ignore a warning sign and always heed advice about avoiding roads which may be affected by snow, debris, mud, flooding or a motor vehicle collision.

During the colder months, surface moisture or dew can freeze and become ‘black ice’. Take particular care when travelling on roads in these conditions. If heavy rain, hail, sleet or snow make driving too difficult pull over safely to the side of the road and wait until conditions improve.

Excess speed is a major cause of boating incidents. Reducing speeding on NSW waterways is a priority issue under the Maritime Safety Plan, as about one in 10 fatal or serious injury incidents are caused by excess speed.

Follow the rules for safe and responsible boating on NSW waterways with the Boating Handbook.

Speeding on the water is just as serious as speeding on the road, and can result in penalties. It also puts yourself, your passengers and other people using the waterways at risk. Reducing your speed can reduce the severity of injuries. This is because travelling at high speeds reduces your time to react to sudden hazards. The faster you go, the longer it takes to stop safely.

When you drive fast, you will also experience a greater force of impact if you collide with something, which increases the risk of serious injury. What is safe at one time might be very dangerous at another. For example, it’s dangerous to be travelling at high speeds in dense fog or heavy rain as you cannot spot hazards easily. The faster you go, the less time you have to avoid any sudden hazards and avoid an incident.

If you can’t stop in time to avoid collision, you’re going too fast
Always drive under the sign posted speed limit, because speed limits are put in place to keep everyone safe on the water
Always drive to the conditions and slow down in wet weather, at night or when visibility is poor; also slow down if there are lots of boats about or people in the water
Keep a safe distance at all times from the shore, structures, other craft and people in the water
Consider your boat’s handling at speed, especially in waves or chop and slow down or adjust your course for a safe and comfortable ride.

Speed signs reflect the maximum speed allowed, so you must travel at or below the speed shown. Some drivers may be subject to lower speed limits, including some heavy vehicles which are restricted to 100km/h and some learner drivers from outside Victoria.

When you see a speed limit sign, that limit applies for the entire length of road following that sign until you reach a sign with another speed limit, an ‘end speed limit’ sign, or the end of a road if the road ends at a T-intersection or dead end. Speed limits apply in a 'road related area' which includes car parks and any area that is open to the public for driving, riding or parking, or is for use by cyclists or animals.

In areas where there is no speed limit sign, default speed limits apply.

In built up areas, the default speed limit is 50km/h.
For country roads, the default speed is 100km/h.

Refer to rules 20, 21, 22, 24 and 25 of the Victorian Road Safety Road Rules 2017.

The rules about driving below the speed limit relate to unreasonably obstructing the path of other road users, rather than stating a minimum speed.

A driver is not considered to be unreasonably obstructing another road user if the driver is stopped in traffic; or if the driver is driving more slowly than the other vehicles (unless the driver is driving abnormally slow in the circumstances).

The rules provide an example of a driver driving abnormally slow:

“A driver driving at a speed of 20 kilometres per hour on a length of road to which a speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour applies when there is no reason for the driver to drive at that speed on the length of road”.

The key reason to this example is “when there is no reason” for the slower speed. Under adverse conditions, such as rain, at night, or areas with high pedestrian activity, it is often necessary to drive at a speed that is slower than the posted speed limit.

For more information see rule 125 of the Victorian Road Safety Road Rules 2017.

The type of rain and what the weather was like before the rain will influence the slipperiness of the road.

If there was a prolonged period of sunny weather before the rain then the surface can become very slick, especially with only light rain where there's not enough water to help wash the surface oil and dirt away quickly.

With heavy rain there will be spray from other vehicles and this can reduce visibility quite a lot. Rain might also mean it becomes overcast, but if it's raining and still sunny then glare can be a problem off the wet bitumen.

Torrential downpours can result in large amounts of standing water or flash floods. If the rain is too fast for your wipers to keep up, pull over and wait until it stops. This type of heavy rain can dislodge foliage from trees, and wash items into the roadway.

If the rain causes deep puddles and standing water there is the risk of hydroplaning or aquaplaning where the tyre rides up on top of the water.

Put your dipped headlights on if visibility falls below 100m.

Pedestrians are more likely to take risks running across the road to escape the rain. If they have umbrellas an umbrella makes it more difficult for them to see.

Be careful that you don't splash a pedestrian by driving quickly through deep water.

Take care if you have to cross a ford or causeway (where a stream crosses the road) because water levels can rise rapidly and the force pushing against the side of your vehicle could sweep it away.

Remember that it's not a good idea to use your cruise control when it's very slippery unless your vehicle has traction control (and preferably some form of electronic stability control such as ESC, ESP [electronic stability program] or VDC [vehicle dynamics control]).