Most learners do their first few lessons on dry, sunny days, then get caught out the first time the sky opens up on the way home from work. Rain, fog, low winter sun and cold, misty windscreens all change how a car behaves and how much you can see. None of it is complicated, but every part of it takes practice. This guide covers what changes when the roads get wet in Melbourne, the rules that apply to lights and fog lights, how to look after your tyres, why floodwater is never worth the risk, and what to expect if your drive test lands on a rainy day.
The rules and figures below come from Victorian Government sources (Transport Victoria, VicRoads, the TAC and VICSES), the Bureau of Meteorology, and other Australian government driver handbooks where Victoria’s material doesn’t go into detail. Every source is listed at the end.
What Melbourne’s winter actually brings
Melbourne’s reputation for four seasons in one day is well earned, but the numbers are less dramatic than the jokes. The Bureau of Meteorology’s long-term records for the Melbourne Regional Office station show that June, July and August each average around nine to ten days of rain (days with at least 1 mm). Average daytime maximums over winter sit between about 13.5 and 15 degrees, and average overnight minimums around 6 to 7 degrees.
Interestingly, winter isn’t the wettest time of year by total rainfall. In that same record, October has the highest average rainfall. What makes winter tricky for drivers is the combination: frequent light rain, roads that stay damp for longer in the cold, short days, fog on still mornings and a sun that sits low in the sky for the morning and afternoon commute.
The Bureau also notes that fog is most common during the winter months. It tends to form overnight under clear skies and light winds, which is why you often meet it on an early start and see it burn off by mid-morning.
Double your gap and drop your speed
The single most useful change you can make in the rain is to leave more room in front. Transport Victoria’s safe driving advice says the usual three-second gap should be extended to four seconds in bad weather such as rain or fog, at night or in poor light, and when you’re unsure of the road. The TAC’s advice for new drivers says the same: in rain or reduced visibility, increase the gap to at least four seconds, because stopping distances are longer in the rain.
The ACT learner guide goes further, suggesting six seconds when it’s wet. Treat four seconds as your minimum in the rain, and more if the rain is heavy or you’re behind a truck throwing up spray.
To count it, pick a fixed marker like a pole or sign. When the back of the car in front passes it, count “one thousand and one, one thousand and two” until your car reaches the same spot. If you get there before four, ease off and let the gap grow.
Speed for the conditions, not the sign
The number on the sign is a maximum, not a target. Transport Victoria’s guidance is that in difficult weather you may need to drive at a speed that’s safe for the conditions, even if it’s below the limit. VicRoads’ drive test criteria say the same thing in assessment terms: drive at or close to the limit when conditions suit, but at a lower speed when a wet road makes the limit unsafe.
Queensland’s road safety advice adds a point many drivers miss: don’t use cruise control in the wet. You want your foot in charge of the speed so you can ease off the moment you feel the car go light or see standing water.
Instructor tip
A wet road punishes sudden inputs. Brake earlier and more gently, turn the wheel smoothly, and squeeze the accelerator rather than stabbing it. If you drive as if there’s a full cup of coffee on the dashboard, you’ll rarely have trouble.
Aquaplaning: what it is and what to do
Queensland’s road safety guidance defines aquaplaning as a build-up of water between the road surface and your tyres, causing them to lose contact with the road completely. At that point your steering and brakes have very little effect, because the tyres are riding on a film of water instead of the bitumen.
South Australia’s driver’s handbook puts the cause simply: if you drive too quickly through a puddle, you risk the car aquaplaning or sliding and becoming uncontrollable. Speed, standing water and worn tyres are the three ingredients. Take any one away and the risk drops sharply.
What to do if it happens
The official advice across Australian government sources focuses on smoothness: avoid sudden or harsh braking or steering. In practice, this is what our instructors teach:
- i.Ease off the accelerator
Lift off gently. Don’t slam on the brakes. Letting the car slow on its own gives the tyres a chance to cut back through the water.
- ii.Hold the wheel steady
Keep the wheel pointed where you want to go. Big steering inputs while the tyres are floating can send the car sideways when grip returns.
- iii.Wait for the grip to come back
You’ll feel the steering firm up as the tyres touch the road again. Only then make any gentle corrections.
- iv.Slow down for the rest of the trip
If it happened once, the conditions and your speed are asking for more care. Drop your speed and look further ahead for standing water.
Braking in the wet, with and without ABS
Almost every modern car has an anti-lock braking system (ABS). VicRoads’ Road to Solo Driving handbook explains what to do in an emergency stop with ABS: keep firm pressure on the brake pedal. When ABS is working you may feel a vibration or shuddering through the car and the brake pedal may pulse under your foot.
That pulsing surprises new drivers, and the instinct is to lift off. Don’t. The system is stopping the wheels from locking so you can still steer. The ACT learner guide gives the same advice: the pedal may feel abnormal, don’t panic, keep applying pressure as long as necessary.
If your car doesn’t have ABS
Older cars without ABS can lock their wheels under hard braking, and a locked wheel can’t steer. The ACT guide’s advice is that if the wheels lock, ease off the brake immediately while keeping enough pressure to stop without locking them. The best defence is the gap: with four seconds or more in front, you rarely need to brake hard enough for it to matter.
After driving through water
South Australia’s handbook points out that if water reaches the brakes, they won’t work as well. After driving through a deep puddle, test your brakes gently at low speed. The handbook suggests drying them by driving a short distance with your foot pressed gently on the brake.
Watch out
Electronic stability control and ABS help you keep control, but they can’t create grip that isn’t there. A car full of safety features still needs a bigger gap and a lower speed on a wet road.
Headlights and fog lights: the rules
Visibility cuts both ways in the rain. You need to see, and other drivers need to see you. Transport Victoria’s guidance covers both:
- Headlights must be on between sunset and sunrise, and in hazardous conditions with reduced visibility
- Transport Victoria also recommends using low-beam headlights during the day so others can see you more easily
- Dip to low beam when a vehicle is less than 200 metres ahead, whether it’s coming towards you or travelling in the same direction
- You must not use front or rear fog lights unless you’re driving in fog or other hazardous weather that reduces visibility
That last rule is the one people break most often, usually without meaning to. Rear fog lights are very bright red lights designed to be seen through thick fog. On a clear night, or even in light drizzle, they dazzle the driver behind you and can make your brake lights harder to pick out. Front fog lights sit low and spread wide, which helps in fog but adds glare for oncoming drivers in normal conditions.
Finding your fog light switch
Not every car has fog lights. Look for a lamp symbol with a wavy line through the beam on the light stalk or dashboard, and confirm in your owner’s manual which switch is front and which is rear. Check the dashboard indicator after the fog clears so you don’t leave them on.
Nazrul Islam, Mitcham Driving SchoolIn the rain, lights on, gap bigger, speed down. That’s most of wet weather driving right there. The rest is being smooth with your hands and feet.
Driving in fog
The Bureau of Meteorology describes fog as water droplets suspended in the air that cut visibility at ground level to less than a kilometre. In practice, the fog that affects drivers is often much thicker than that, and it can appear suddenly in dips, near creeks and in open parkland.
The TAC’s advice is to reduce your speed before you enter fog, not once you’re inside it, and to use fog lights instead of headlights on high beam. High beam bounces off the water droplets and throws light back into your eyes. Low beam, with fog lights if you have them, lights the road without the glare.
- Slow down before the fog bank, and keep slowing until you can stop within the distance you can see
- Use low beam, plus fog lights if your car has them and visibility is reduced
- Stretch your gap to at least four seconds
- Use the left edge line or kerb as a guide, not the tail lights of the car ahead
- Wind the window down a little at intersections so you can hear traffic you can’t see
- Don’t overtake. South Australia’s road safety advice is blunt: don’t overtake if you’re not sure the road ahead is clear
If fog gets so thick that you can’t see enough to drive safely, find a safe place well off the road to wait for it to lift. South Australia’s advice for very bad weather is simply to pull over and take a break.
Keeping your windscreen clear
On a cold, wet morning, the inside of the windscreen can fog up within a minute of getting in the car. Warm, moist air from your breath and wet clothes hits cold glass and condenses. Driving with a fogged screen is dangerous, and a patch wiped with your sleeve leaves smears that scatter light from oncoming headlights.
Several Australian government sources give the same fix: use the air conditioner or demister to keep the windscreen clear. Air conditioning dries the air, which is why it clears a screen faster than heat alone. The ACT learner guide notes the demister works better with the fresh-air setting than with recirculated air, which just keeps pushing the same damp air around the cabin.
- i.Airflow to the windscreen
Select the windscreen airflow setting (a curved screen symbol with wavy arrows). In many cars this also switches the air conditioning on automatically.
- ii.Air conditioning on
Press the A/C button if it isn’t already lit. You can have the temperature warm and the A/C on at the same time.
- iii.Fresh air, not recirculate
Turn off recirculation so drier outside air comes in.
- iv.Rear demister on
The rectangular symbol with wavy arrows heats the rear window. Many cars switch it off automatically after a few minutes.
- v.Wait before you move
Don’t pull out until you can see clearly through the windscreen, side windows and mirrors.
Wipers and washers
Queensland’s bad weather guidance reminds drivers to make sure the wipers are clean and working. Worn blades leave streaks and skip across the glass, which is much worse at night when streaks catch every headlight. If they chatter or smear, replace the blades, and keep the washer bottle topped up for road spray.
Tyres: tread depth and pressure
On a wet day, tread is what channels water out from under your tyres. Transport Victoria’s vehicle standards set out the legal minimum:
- Tyres must have a minimum tread depth of 1.5 mm in all principal grooves
- The tread must not be worn so far that any tread wear indicator touches the road
- The valve cap must be firmly screwed on
- Tyre pressure should be checked regularly and adjusted to the recommended pressure
How to check tread depth
Tread wear indicators are small raised bars moulded across the bottom of the main grooves. Queensland’s TyreSmart guide explains that a tyre must be replaced when the tread has worn even with the indicator, which marks the minimum allowable depth. A small tread depth gauge from an auto parts store gives you an exact reading. Check across the whole width of each tyre, because uneven wear on one edge is common and can hide a low spot.
Remember that 1.5 mm is the legal minimum, not a target. A worn but legal tyre clears far less water than a newer one.
Checking tyre pressure
Your car’s recommended pressures are printed on the tyre placard. According to Queensland’s TyreSmart guide, it’s generally inside the driver’s door on the door frame, but it can also be on the driver’s door itself, the glovebox or the fuel flap.
- i.Check when the tyres are cold
TyreSmart advises measuring when the car has been parked for at least three hours or driven no more than 2 km. Warm tyres read higher.
- ii.Use a good gauge
Petrol station gauges vary. A quality hand gauge is cheap and consistent.
- iii.Match the placard
Inflate to the figure on the placard for your load. Some placards show a higher pressure for a fully loaded car.
- iv.Do it monthly
TyreSmart recommends checking pressure at least once a month, and before any long drive. Don’t forget the spare.
Floodwater: never drive through it
This is the one part of wet weather driving with no judgement call attached. VICSES’s message is: never drive on flooded roads. Its “15 to Float” campaign, based on research from the University of New South Wales Water Research Laboratory, explains why:
- A small car can be moved by water only 15 cm deep, about the height of a pen
- A mid-sized car can be moved by water only 30 cm deep
- A four-wheel drive can be moved by water only 45 cm deep
VICSES also explains what happens once a car starts to float: it can be pushed into debris, airbags can go off, and electric windows and locks can stop working, which can make it very hard to get out. Water drawn into the engine can cause major damage. It cites research finding that driving into floodwater is the single biggest cause of flood deaths in Australian floods.
You may have heard Queensland’s slogan “If it’s flooded, forget it”. The advice in Victoria is the same. If a road is under water, turn around, take another route, or wait. Check the VicEmergency app or website during heavy rain for warnings and road closures before you set out.
Don’t be fooled
A familiar dip in your own street can be far deeper than it looks after a storm, and the water can hide a washed-out surface. Knowing the road isn’t a reason to drive through it.
Winter sun glare
Glare isn’t just a summer problem. In winter the sun sits lower in the sky for much of the day, so on east-west roads it can be right in your eyes on the morning and afternoon commute. Wet roads make it worse by reflecting the light back up at you. The TAC warns drivers to beware of blinding glare from sunlight, either directly from the sun or reflected off other cars and objects.
- Keep a pair of sunglasses in the car all year round
- Use the sun visor, and swing it to the side window when the sun is on your right or left
- Keep the windscreen clean inside and out, because dirt and film scatter low sun into a white haze
- Slow down and leave a bigger gap when you can’t see well. South Australia’s advice is to drive slowly enough to always know what’s ahead in blinding sunlight
- Remember that the drivers facing the other way may not be able to see you. Headlights on low beam help them pick you out
Black ice and trips to the snow
Black ice is rare on suburban Melbourne roads, but you can meet it in the hills and on the way to the snowfields. Transport Victoria describes it as a thin, often transparent layer of ice that usually forms at night, early in the morning, or on sections of road that haven’t had sunlight, such as under tree cover. Its advice if you hit a patch: stay calm and use the accelerator, brake and steering as little as possible until you’re clear.
If you’re heading to an alpine resort, the rules on chains are strict. Alpine Resorts Victoria states that all vehicles entering Falls Creek, Mt Baw Baw, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Mt Stirling must carry snow chains at all times during the declared snow season, which for 2026 was 6 June to 6 September. This applies to every vehicle class, including all-wheel drives and four-wheel drives. Lake Mountain sets its requirements daily.
- Only diamond-pattern chains that fit your vehicle properly are permitted. Ladder chains, spider chains and snow socks are not
- If directed, chains go on the drive wheels, or on either the front or rear wheels of a four-wheel drive
- Fit chains only in designated bays or pull-outs
- Practise fitting them at home first, not in the cold at the side of a mountain road
Season dates change each year, so check Alpine Resorts Victoria before you go. If you’re on your Ps, a trip to the snow is a good time to take an experienced driver along, and the P plate rules still apply the whole way.
Your driving test on a rainy day
Rain on test day is common in a Melbourne winter, and it’s nothing to dread. A wet day is simply a chance to show you can drive safely for the conditions.
VicRoads’ published drive test criteria for driving instructors describe what that looks like. When driving straight in poor conditions, such as on a wet road, you’re expected to keep a following distance of at least three seconds. You should drive at or near the speed limit when conditions suit, but at a lower speed when a wet road makes the limit unsafe. The same document expects you to be able to find and operate the windscreen washers and wipers, and to know where the demister is. That document dates from 2012, so ask your instructor how the current test handles these points.
- Check that your wipers, washers, demister and all lights work before you leave home
- Clean the windscreen inside and out, and top up the washer bottle
- Know where every weather control is without looking for it: wipers, washers, demister, A/C, rear demister and fog lights
- Set the demister going as soon as you get in, before the screen fogs up
- Give yourself four seconds or more in the rain. The minimum is a floor, not a target
- Brake earlier and more gently than you would on a dry day
If you’ve never driven in the rain with an instructor, book a lesson on a wet day before your test. Our driving test preparation lessons cover the routes around the Mitcham Testing and Inspection Centre in Ringwood, and our guide to VicRoads Mitcham driving test routes shows the kinds of roads you’ll drive on. For the day itself, see what to bring to your driving test. If nerves are the bigger worry, our tips on driving test anxiety can help.
Wet weather quick reference
A summary of what changes as conditions get worse, drawn from the sources listed below.
| Condition | Following gap | Lights | Key action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dry, daytime | 3 seconds | Low beam recommended | Normal driving |
| Light rain | 4 seconds or more | Low beam | Wipers on, demister ready, cruise control off |
| Heavy rain | 4 seconds or more, extra behind trucks | Low beam (headlights required when visibility is reduced) | Slow down, watch for standing water |
| Fog | 4 seconds or more | Low beam; fog lights allowed only in fog or hazardous weather | Slow down before you enter it, no high beam |
| Low sun glare | Bigger than normal | Low beam helps others see you | Sunglasses, visor, cover the brake at crossings |
| Floodwater | Not applicable | Not applicable | Never drive through it. Turn around |
| Black ice | Much bigger than normal | As conditions require | Minimal accelerator, brake and steering |
Common wet weather driving questions
Is it illegal to leave my fog lights on when it isn’t foggy?
Transport Victoria states that drivers must not use front or rear fog lights unless driving in fog or other hazardous weather conditions that cause reduced visibility. So yes, using them in clear conditions breaks the rule. Check the indicator on your dashboard after the fog lifts.
My ABS pedal shook during a hard stop. Is something wrong?
Probably not. VicRoads’ Road to Solo Driving handbook says that when ABS is working you may feel vibration through the car and the pedal may pulsate. Keep firm pressure on the pedal. If the ABS warning light stays on while you’re driving, have the car checked.
Can I drive through a shallow puddle across the road?
A puddle on the road surface is different from floodwater over a road. South Australia’s handbook advises slowing down before you drive through water to avoid losing control, and stopping to check the depth if it could be too deep. If water is flowing across the road, or it covers a dip, creek crossing or bridge, treat it as floodwater and don’t drive in. VICSES’s advice is never to drive through floodwater.
Should I practise in the rain as a learner?
Yes. VicRoads’ Road to Solo Driving handbook encourages learners to gain experience in a broad range of conditions, including wet weather. It’s far better to meet your first heavy downpour with a supervising driver or instructor beside you than on your own on P plates.
Winter driving habits that make a difference
Most wet weather crashes aren’t caused by one big mistake. They come from small habits: a gap that’s a second too short, a speed that suits a dry road, a windscreen that’s half fogged. These are the habits our instructors see make the biggest difference.
Check the car before winter
Tyres, wipers, washer fluid, headlights, brake lights and the demister. The TAC encourages drivers to regularly check tyres, brakes, lights and wipers.
Count four in the rain
Make the four-second gap automatic whenever the wipers are on. If the wipers are going, your count should be too.
Leave earlier
Rushing is what turns a wet road into a crash. Add ten minutes to any winter trip so you never feel the need to push.
Practise with an instructor
Book a lesson on a wet day. Braking, demisting and fog light controls are much easier to learn with someone calm beside you.
If you’ve got your licence but haven’t driven much in winter, a couple of refresher lessons on wet roads can rebuild your confidence quickly. And if you’re just starting out, our beginner driving lessons build these skills in gradually, from quiet streets in the dry to busier roads in the rain.
Rain on test day? Be ready for it.
Our instructors teach learners across Mitcham and Melbourne’s east to drive confidently in the wet, so a grey winter morning at the Mitcham Testing and Inspection Centre is just another drive.
Sources and further reading
We’ve written this guide from the official sources below. Where Victorian sources don’t cover a technique in detail, we’ve used other Australian state and territory government handbooks. Rules and guidance can change, so treat these pages as the final word.
- Transport Victoria: Safe driving tips
- Transport Victoria: Headlights and high beams
- Transport Victoria: Snow and winter driving
- Transport Victoria: VSI 16 Tyre maintenance and repair
- VicRoads: Road to Solo Driving handbook
- VicRoads: Drive Test criteria for driving instructors (2012)
- TAC: Driving conditions
- TAC: Winter weather a potential hazard these school holidays
- VICSES: 15 to Float
- VICSES: What would happen if I drove into floodwater?
- Alpine Resorts Victoria: Wheel chain requirements
- Bureau of Meteorology: Climate statistics, Melbourne Regional Office
- Bureau of Meteorology: Explainer, what is fog?
- Queensland Government: Road safety during wet weather
- Queensland Government: Driving in bad weather
- Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads: TyreSmart
- My Licence (SA Government): Hazardous driving situations
- SA Department for Infrastructure and Transport: Poor weather
- Access Canberra: Road Ready learner driver guide
