I would say that, if you crash because the tires lost grip, it’s driver error - it’s the job of the driver to drive within the limits of the vehicle, and that includes the tires. I see lots of people who drive exactly the same in the wet as in the dry - no extra safety cushion, no allowance for increased stopping distance.
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Mark Donohue would agree…
This attitude is on the wane. Back when cars didn’t molly coddle us with ABS, Traction control, self park etc, the vehicle would murmer “You think that’s ok? Let’s see.”, then they would bite.
I cringe when I see people driving as if they’re doing something trivial and completely free of danger.
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I was out in the wifes mazda today and leaving a set of lights a Harley rider, with pillion, decided that he would lane split. The car SHOOK as his exhaust reverberated against the side. Was lucky I didn’t have a twitch and clip his rear tyre.
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EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
School buses (and transit buses, especially) are seen by a lot of motorists as “the enemy.”
Couple that with the overall coarsening of social attitudes, we get folks doing absolutely insane things: passing on our flashing eight-ways, passing over double yellow lines, passing on the shoulder.
Drivers forget—or likely, never knew— that driving is a privilege, not a right—and act accordingly.
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Let’s not forget aggressive tail-gating which, IMO, has become shockingly commonplace.
Cheers
DD
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Oh Em Gee: it is epidemic. Some of the worst, and most unforgivable offenders are OTR truckers.
“I’m annoyed that some moron who doesn’t know how to drive is slowing my progress or doing something dumb. Well, to express my displeasure, and to demonstrate what a smart driver I am, I’ll just plant myself 6 feet off his rear bumper for the next three miles…at 65 mph”
Cheers
DD
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Gotta chuckle. No an outright guffaw!!!
CA decided that lane splitting by motorcycles was Ok and codified it!!! We are nuts, for sure.
It may seem counter intuitive. But, the road is most slippery at the first rain. And I poatulate that it is less slippery in a heavy rain than in a light rain.
Racers soon learn that a governing factor in how fast they can go is related to the wear on the tires.
The days of the four wheels locked skid seem to be gone. Even in cars that do not employ ABS. I think my Jaguar’s brakes and tires are up to snuff. I’ve made some stops that almost were emergency. heayy foot on the pedal. No loxk up, it just squatted ands stopped. No loss of control. No bent tin.
Thinking back, I did rear end another car when driving my company furnished car. Circa late 56!!! Three or four others, decades later. I not at fault. Got rear ended or "T’ boned.
Carl
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It’s a fact, and, for thise of us who ride/have ridden, we know it is.
I clearly recall my first introduction to the reality of it, whilst riding—hard, as was my wont—up Turkey Creek Canyon, and hit a patch of light rain.
Grew my first, second, AND tenth, gray hair…!!!
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Interesting that you say that.
About two years ago, I was just about a mile from home.
I noticed there was a line of cars stopped at the light at the next intersection.
No need to be in a rush or take any action, audi stopped ahead.
I said to myself, slowed down with plenty of room, no problem, I got this.
The next thing I knew, I saw every loose thing in my car hurtling at me from the back.
In front of me the audi was getting close, too close, can’t stop, can’t steer.
All my airbags deployed but they didn’t hit me.
Got out, cop asked what happened, I was so concussed I couldn’t make sense of it.
When I said I didn’t know, I screwed myself legally.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had six broken ribs and a broken sternum.
After the fact, I figured it out, by looking at my wrecked car in the driveway.
The drivers seat was broken off the rails about one foot back from where I sit, and the seat back was broken almost flat backwards.
I couldn’t reach the brake pedal or the steering wheel.
When I hit the audi, I was thrown forward against the loose seat belt.
Now I’m in a legal battle with some insurance companies and the local cops.
Someone once suggested that the ideal vehicle safety device would be a 12-gauge shotgun shell built into the steering column, aimed at the driver’s chest, and rigged to go off if he hits anything.
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My FF was Director of Driver Training for the Central Florida region of the SCCA, so we’d regularly be at race tracks while they taught newbies how to drive a race car. You tell 'em and tell 'em and tell 'em that they’d better slow down when it starts raining, but they just don’t get it. Doesn’t help that race cars typically have slick tires. These guys would go everywhere when it started raining.
I was at Daytona one time when there were too many Formula Vee’s entered, something like 30 of them. Fun to watch, almost bumper car mentality, and they’d draft each other like bicyclists. It was dry at the start/finish line but it was raining at the hairpin at the other end of the track. Green flag drops, they all barrel into Turn 1 and bump wheels trying to get through it. Then they circle around the track and we watched with the binoculars as they got to the hairpin. Basically, every single one of them spun off course. It then became a race to see who could get back on the course first! More bumping around, chewing up the wet grass. Good times!
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Funny you say that, b/c that was what I surmised as to the intersections here in the Dallas area a long time ago. When it first starts raining, it merely “wets” the patches of oil and other foreign (slippery) substances on the roadway that have accumulated (i.e. dripping from cars sitting there idling) since the last rain at intersections, causing them to be extra-hazardous. 
I remember one time when I was driving on a major street in the “Uptown” area of downtown Dallas in my X-300 right after we had experienced a light shower, followed by the sun coming out. I almost never use my “sport” drive button, but apparently I had somehow unknowingly “rocked” the switch into “S” position sometime earlier that day. I sat first at the intersection, waiting for the light to turn to green. As it turned to green, I remember stepping on the gas, and, as the car lurched forward, it suddenly spun/rotated 90 degrees counter/anti-clockwise, and I remember sliding down the street in the direction of my travel, uncontrollably frozen in that position (i.e. sideways) for a good distance before my car skidded mercifully to a stop. Thank God there were NO cars other than mine on that part of the street, or I might have plowed sideways into them coming at me. 
I remember cars behind me going on past me, and me trying to look at them like, “yeah, I MEANT to do that - impressive, eh?” … 
Actually it had scared me half to death. And, yes, my tires had plenty of tread on them. What apparently caused the suddenly loss of control was again the built-up oils on the intersection roadway since our last rain, which had been a long time earlier. 
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When I was a teenager with a learner’s permit, I was once driving my FF’s 390 AMX in Orlando when a light sprinkle started. FF was in the passenger seat and my 6-year-old little brother was standing in the back of the 2-seater car holding onto the seat backs. I had stopped at a stoplight, and when it turned green I began a left turn onto Colonial Drive. I took my foot off the brake pedal and spun the car around 180 degrees without ever touching the gas pedal. All slow motion, the kid standing wasn’t troubled at all. When the car finally came to a stop, we just turned around very slowly and continued on our way.
I think we had Goodyear Polyglas tires on the car at the time. Simply terrible in wet weather.
Just a follow up note … I got the Cooper Cobras put on Superblue, and b/c this particular shop location was clearing them out I got a discount price + a couple of “incentives”, which = me getting the tires balanced and mounted for a total cost of less than $88.00 per tire. 
So far, I love them … Haven’t driven them in the rain yet though, but will report back here if they have any issues with that. btw, good thing I decided to ditch the Goodyear Eagles, as the shop told me that, based on the dating encryption on the sidewall, they were manufactured in 2001! 
I’m thinking this is likely the 2nd set of the factory original brand put on the car by the PO, given that she only has 83K miles on her. With all the heat rot we have in Texas, I’m amazed they didn’t come apart long before now, a real credit to GY … 
I buy tires from a tire distributor in Dallas who sells off brand tires. I’m showing 6 different tires in 215/65R15 in either H or V rating for under $60 tire. If you’re into name brands, then they won’t suite you but they work for me because my tires are more likely to dry rot than wear out.
That chassis didnt help things…