Final answer:
After driving through water, pump your brakes to test them; it's the safe method to ensure they're working well. Other options like racing the engine or applying brakes hard are not recommended.
Step-by-step explanation:
After you drive through a deep puddle of water, you should pump your brakes to test them. This action helps to determine whether the brakes have been affected by the water and to dry them out, ensuring they work properly when you need to stop. Racing your engine, applying brakes hard, or speeding up to dry your tires are not safe or recommended methods. The displacements found in studies seem reasonable for stopping a fast-moving car, indicating that on wet pavement, a car will take longer to stop. Additionally, reaction time is a significant factor in these displacements.
Solving such problems typically involves identifying the knowns and the quantities to be determined and then finding an appropriate equation, showing that there is often more than one way to solve a problem. In the case of brakes affected by water, the safest approach is to test them by pumping them gently.