You’re driving down the road and something happens to you car – something serious, like an overheated radiator or a broken fan belt. What should you do? The answer to that question depends a lot on what the driving disaster is, how much you know about cars and how prepared you are to handle a driving disaster.
The first thing you should do is make sure that you and your car are safe. This means that if your car has stalled or broken down in the road, you need to get the car off to the side of the road as quickly as possible. Turn on your emergency flashers at the first hint of a driving disaster. If you can, drive the car or allow it to coast off the side of the road. Get as far from lanes of traffic as you can. If you have emergency flares in your car first aid kit – and you should – this is the time to use them.
If you don’t know anything about cars, your next step is simple – take out your cell phone and call for help. Depending on the severity of the situation, you may want to call your automotive club, a friend or relative, or even your local emergency services dispatcher. If it’s safe to do so, stay with your car – a car is much easier to find than a person wandering around alone.
If you’re driving and you notice that your car is overheating, there are a few steps you can take to help you get to a safe place to stop. First, turn off the radio, the air conditioner and anything else that’s putting a strain on the engine. Roll down your windows and turn on the heat. That’s right – the heat. Doing this will pull some of the heat away from your engine and buy you a few minutes to pull over safely. Once you’re pulled over, you’ll have to allow your car to cool pretty thoroughly before additional coolant can be added to the radiator. Try to open the radiator too soon and you can get a seriously nasty burn – in fact, most modern radiator caps have special safeguards to prevent this. Be sure to practice a little prevention – regular checks of your fluid levels can help prevent this situation from ever occurring.
Or, if you’re driving and you notice that your brakes are feeling a little soft, you also need to find a safe place to get off the road. Try pumping your brakes – sometimes an air bubble in the fluid lines can be eliminated this way. Obviously, slow down as much as you can. If your brakes fail, you can downshift to help slow your car, use your parking brake and – if all else fails – try to run into something soft while avoiding people. Again, regular checks of your fluid levels can help prevent this situation from occurring too.
Finally, if you’re driving and a belt snaps, get yourself off the road. Depending on which belt snaps, this can be a difficult task – if your power steering goes out, you’ll have to steer your 3,000+ vehicle manually. But unless you just happen to have a set of tools and the right kind of belt on hand, you’re going to need professional help. Depending on the belt, there are some folks who might be able to make a repair with duct tape, but for most people, it’s better just to whip out your cell phone and make that call to AAA.
