Accidents and What to Do When Occur

Each year many drivers are involved in accidents. The National Safety Council reports that 17,800,000 male drivers and 7,300,000 female drivers were involved in reportable accidents in a recent year. Though males are involved in more accidents than females, the difference is due in part to the amount of driving each sex does and the differences in the driving locations and conditions. For example, more men than women drive taxis and transfer trucks, which are considered more hazardous than ordinary driving around town.

To lessen your chances of having an accident, I recommend that you enroll in a DDC (defensive driving course), an eight-hour course designed for experienced drivers. The DDC teaches experienced drivers the types and causes of automobile accidents and how to prevent them. Practically all drivers fall into some dangerous driving habits, and this course will help you to identify these practices and correct them. Originated by the National Safety Council, it is available through local safety organizations and law enforcement agencies. The course is continually being upgraded and improved, and I believe accidents would substantially decrease if experienced drivers took it every five years.

If you are involved in an accident but are not seriously hurt, you should give first aid to anyone who may be injured, though you should not move an injured person unless absolutely necessary. Some states have passed a “Good Samaritan” law that protects you from being sued later if you give first aid to help the victim.

Keep cool! Turn on your emergency flashers or activate emergency flares to decrease the chances of involving another vehicle; at night or in bad weather, this is a must. Send for the police, and do not move any vehicle until they arrive.

You should both obtain and render the following information for each vehicle involved in the accident, making sure to also list the names of the law officers present:

Driver’s name
Driver’s address
Driver’s phone number
Company carrying insurance
Insurance policy number
License plate number
Make of vehicle
Passenger(s) name(s)
Passenger(s) address(es)
 

GENERAL INFORMATION:
 

Names of law officers
Name(s) of any witness(es)
Witness’s address
Witness’s phone number

Make no agreements or settlements, but give the investigating officer complete details to the best of your knowledge and belief. Laws vary by states, and sometimes the courts will have to decide who or what caused the accident. Notify your insurance company as soon as possible after an accident.

EMERGENCIES

Every driver should expect emergencies and try to be prepared for them. It is impossible to list all driving emergencies, but here are a few examples to test your skills and reactions.

1. You are approaching a car that begins to veer over to your side of the road for no apparent reason. The driver may be asleep, drunk, ill, or not paying attention. What can you do? 

Slow down and pull as far as possible to the right-hand side of the road, while signaling with your lights and horn to warn the other driver of the danger. If there is a shoulder on your side of the road, do not hesitate to drive on it.

Steer into a ditch or any open ground on the right side that is free of obstructions if he continues toward you. Do not try to outguess him by steering to the left, since he may wake up or recover and swerve back to his lane, causing a head-on collision.

2. If you apply the foot brakes while driving and they do not work, try pumping them. If there is a small amount of braking power left, you may get enough response to stop the car (be certain you have not depressed the clutch pedal by mistake!). 

If the brakes are completely gone, shift into a lower gear so the engine will act as a brake, and apply the emergency brake, though it is effective only on the rear wheels. It will stop the car, but in a greater distance. Steer over to the right-hand side and drive on the shoulder, stopping as soon as you can.

Be careful about turning the ignition key off in order to stop the engine; on cars with the ignition switch on the steering column, you will lock the steering column if you turn the key all the way to the left. Cars with power steering will be much harder to steer with the engine off, but if you brace yourself and get a firm grip on the wheel, you should be able to steer the car.

3. If a car approaches you at night with its headlights on high beam, flick your lights to high beam and back to low beam; this reminder usually prompts the other driver to switch to low beam. If this does not work, avoid looking directly at his lights, which will blind you temporarily, and concentrate on looking at the right edge of the road.

Slow down and steer as far to the right as possible. As soon as the car passes, put your lights on high beam as a safety measure so you can see what is ahead. Never try to “get even” with the other driver by putting your lights on high beam; you may blind him and cause a collision.

4. If the accelerator pedal sticks when you lift your foot off the gas, put the car into neutral gear and tap the pedal a few times to see if you can unstick it. If you need to stop immediately, turn the ignition key slightly to the left to turn off the engine (remember that turning the key completely to the left locks the steering wheel), and apply the brakes. 

Get a good grip on the steering wheel; if you have power steering, it will be much harder to turn. Push harder on the brake pedal; with the engine off, power brakes require much more force to stop the car. If the accelerator still sticks and the road ahead is clear, put your foot under it and try to lift it upwards, or ask your front-seat passenger to reach down to lift it. It is too dangerous for the driver to try to reach down to lift the accelerator.

5. If your car catches on fire, stop, get your fire extinguisher from the trunk, open the hood (most fires are near or in the engine), and put out the fire. A portable extinguisher is useful when a fire first begins but is not effective for a car completely in flames. Stay far away from a flaming car because the gas tank may explode.

If you do not have a fire extinguisher, your action will depend on the cause of the fire. 

Use your jack handle to rip the wires apart if the trouble is shorted wires; a new wiring system is much cheaper than a new engine or a new car. Throw sand or soil on the engine; do likewise if the fire is caused by leaking gasoline. Do not put water on a gasoline fire, as it will only spread the fire.

6. Your car skids on wet pavement, plunges into a lake or river, and starts to sink. What can you do? Your first impulse is to open the door to get out. Water pressure on the outside of the door will probably make that escape impossible. Try rolling down a window and climbing out; open power windows immediately before they short out. 

Research shows a closed car will usually float for several minutes. If you do not panic, you can save your life; several minutes is a lot of time in an emergency. A car with the engine up front will sink nose first, so climb into the back seat. As the car fills with water, some air may be pushed to the rear near the roof. When the car is almost completely filled with water, a door may be opened, as the water pressure inside and outside is equalized.

7. You have a blowout on the superhighway. How will you handle this? If possible, use the right turn signals and get into the right-hand lane. If you are in the left lane when the tire blows out and there is a shoulder on the left side of the highway, you will be better off using your left turn signal and steering on to the shoulder on the left side of the highway. 

A blowout throws the car out of balance, which makes steering difficult. Reduce speed until you can safely drive onto the shoulder and stop. Do not panic and jam on the brakes; doing so may cause skidding and overturning. Turn on the four-way emergency flasher and use the red flasher on your spotlight to help prevent motorists from colliding into the rear of your car. Turn on the interior lights of the car at night and in inclement weather. If you need help, raise your hood. See Chapter 17, Tips on Easy Tasks, to put on the spare tire.

8. Your horn begins blowing and continues that awful noise for no apparent reason. What can you do? Open the trunk and get a pair of pliers, a wire cutter, or the jack handle. Open the hood, locate the horn, and use one of these tools to remove or cut the wires from the horn. This will stop the noise, and you can get the wires repaired later. The problem was probably caused by shorted wires between the horn and the steering wheel.

9. If you are driving in a thunderstorm and lightning seems to be striking near you, stay in your car. A metal car with rubber tires is one of the safest places you can be during a thunderstorm. If the downpour gets so heavy you cannot see at least several car lengths in front of you, it is best to pull off the road onto the shoulder and wait until the storm passes. 

Turn off your headlights when you are on the shoulder of the road; another driver may be following your tail light and hit the rear of your car. Turn on your four-way emergency flasher; it may help to alert other drivers that you are stopped.

10. If you do not have a spare key, and your keys are in a locked car with the windows rolled up, then what can you do?

You might call a locksmith for help if you are in a city. Some service stations keep a wire or a flat metal tool for open:ng locked doors in such situations. But with the help of a wire coat hanger, you may be able to get into the car yourself. Straighten it out, and fashion a small hook on one end. 

Sometimes it is possible to work the front window down far enough to insert the wire and use the hook end to pull up the door lock button or the door handle. Another possibility is to insert the coat hanger wire below or through the rubber seal of the wing window (if you have one) to reach and raise the lock button; you may have to cut away the rubber insulation from a window to get in. If it becomes necessary to break a window, a wing window is less expensive to replace.