The invention relates to a device, a method and a system for determining a road surface condition, where the surface condition is one of dry, wet or icy. The device comprises a reflectance spectrometer which senses the reflectance properties of the road at one or several wavelengths and uses these reflectance properties to determine the surface condition. The reflectance spectrometer is a wavelength modulation spectrometer, preferably for the near infrared region. The system determines the surface condition and indicates it to a user of the system.