Subject: What to do in a freeway emergency?

From: Terry Avila <none>
Date: 28 Jul 1995 00:46:27 GMT

I have wondered this for a long time, but never have seen the answer, so 
I'm betting that alot of folks on this group will know.

What are you supposed to do if your car stalls in the middle of the 
freeway (besides putting on your hazard lights)?  If you stay in the 
vehicle, you risk getting rear-ended, but if you get out, you risk 
getting run over.  This has never happened to me, and I hope it never 
does, but I frequently see others in this situation, and I wonder what 
they should do.

Any advice?

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From: [email-masked] (KENNY MORSE)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 18:39:51

In article <[email-masked]> Terry Avila  wrote:
>The BEST thing to do is to get out as safely as you can........and try to
get the car over to the side of the road.  The same applies if you are
in an accident.  The cars do NOT belong in the middle of the freeway
causing a hazard to you and others.  BUT......
once you've gotten the car on the shoulder...DO NOT....repeat
DO NOT....sit in it with the flashers on.  It is a California thing that
this is a DRUNK MAGNET, and since this is the DUI mecca
of America.....you stand an excellent chance of metting one this way!

Kenny Morse
"Mr. Traffic"

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From: [email-masked] (Artyom)
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 1995 06:35:00 GMT

>From: Terry Avila <none>

NO>What are you supposed to do if your car stalls in the middle of the

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From: [email-masked] (Mike Morris)
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 1995 08:48:06 GMT

>From the moment your engine stalls on freeway, you have about 1/2 - 1
>mile to go before complete stop. Turn on your hazard lights as soon as
>you slowed to dangerous speed (40-45mph) and move to the shoulder,
>preferrably right where the call boxes are.

Nobody has mentioned this: The moment your engine dies, slap that 
gearshift into NEUTRAL and preserve your momentum!
Then get those 4-way flashers on, roll your window down, and with your
left hand point to the right side of the freeway.
Hopefully the person in the next lane to the right and behind you has 
an IQ higher than the speed limit, sees you and lets you in...

Years ago my dad was teaching me a few things about driving, and the
above technique really made a big impression and stuck with me when
he reached over to the dash-mounted ignition switch (in a 1957 Buick
Special) and turned off the ignition just as I was changing lanes on the 
Pasadena freeway (he had checked the surrounding traffic - at 2am on a
Saturday morning in 1968 it was _very_ light).  Horsing that beast over
to the side was an interesting wakeup-call.  It was on the southbound 
side, just before the 5 freeway, as I recall.  Next lesson - exit the
car on the RIGHT side.  Next: lesson: how to pop a flare (I keep six
taped together with one band of two layers of masking tape, in the 
center of the flare.  Makes it easy to grab one, and twist it 90
degrees, and break the band.  Keep the stick of flares under the seat.
If you pass a fresh accident and can't stop, you can at least hand 
the bundle to the person directing traffic.  Write it off as a mitzva,
and buy six more that night).  Next lesson was that afternoon: how to
determine if the reason the engine died is fuel or ignition. 
Big lesson: fresh batteries in a flashlight - you can't use a flare for
light as you try to look down the carb throat for the squirt of fuel from
the accelerator pump jets...  Bigger lesson: check for spark first -
you don't want gas vapor around when you check for spark with the
classic pseudo-spark-plug test (crank the engine with one plug wire
off, a screwdriver shaft in the connector, a 1/8"-1/4" gap to metal).

>If traffic is heavy, use the horn and hazard lights to get off the road,
>all better than getting stuck in the middle of the freeway. If you get
>stuck on the left shoulder in heavy traffic, wait until CHP passes by,
>shouldn't be long.

I _always_ plan on heading to the right - too many freeways in the LA
area have lost their left shoulders to car pool lanes.

--

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From: [email-masked] (Tim Simmons)
Date: 28 Jul 1995 10:52:09 -0700

In article <[email-masked]>,
>get the car over to the side of the road.  The same applies if you are

This reminds me of something I saw several years ago that absolutely 
blew me away.

I was on 280 near downtown San Jose, up ahead I could see cars swerving
out of the lane I was in (middle).  I got up there and a car was dead
stopped, while this lady is standing in front of the car looking
under the hood apperently trying to solve some mechanical problem.

The traffic around her was not very heavy and travelling 40-50Mph.

She seemed absolutely oblivious to the fact that she was putting herself in 
great danger.

Standing on or ever near the freeway with car travelling at the speed limit
is INSANE.

I say get the car out of the way if you can, if you can't then get out of
the car, walk upstream on the side of the road and warn oncoming trafic
to slow down.

-- 
_______________________________________________________________________________
Tim Simmons             
Auspex Systems               The World's Best NFS Servers

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From: [email-masked] (Jennifer S. Jackson - Dances with Nerds)
Date: 28 Jul 1995 18:27:04 GMT

>freeway (besides putting on your hazard lights)?  If you stay in the 

I have had my car die on me going down the freeway.  As soon as I
noticed there was a problem, I began to make my way to the right,
and managed to reach the shoulder before it stopped completely.

Short of having your drive shaft drop out from underneath you,
you should always have enough time to get out of harm's way.

For the previous story (Woman looking at engine in middle of
freeway):  My guess is that she wasn't paying attention to her
vehicle, and didn't realise when it started to die.

Regards,
-- 
Jennifer Jackson	[email-masked]	[email-masked]
[email-masked]	World Wide Web, Inc.	SERVONET, Inc.

"Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition."

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From: [email-masked] (The R R M Tweek)
Date: 30 Jul 1995 19:12:33 -0700

>you should always have enough time to get out of harm's way.

Hellooooooo!

Did someone say "drive shaft drop"?

Had that happen to me about five or so years ago while heading 
South on 680 past Pleasanton.  Each direction is two lanes there, 
and I was in the #1 (fast) lane.  

Actually, the engine mounts broke, causing the engine to drop and
the drive shaft to break free...  There really was nowhere to go
but into the center median breakdown since traffic was too fast
and heavy to go right.

Traffic was also too heavy to cross the two lanes to get to 
the outside and walk the 2 miles to the exit... so I sat and waited..
even leaned the driveshaft against the back door of the van to give
someone a clue...  didn't work...  waited for about an hour and
a half till a weigh station CHP cruised by and gave me a lift...

During that wait,  I did see a couple county sheriffs go past, but
they were to engrosed in driveing, munching their donuts and sipping
their coffee to notice me waving...  seriously... one of them had
a donut in the hand holding the steering wheel and a cup of coffee
in the other.

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From: Terry Avila <none>
Date: 31 Jul 1995 19:23:52 GMT

Wow, thanks for the responses.  However, the only advice I could really 
glean is to stay in the vehicle.  The hypothetical situation assumed 
that I could not move the car to the shoulder before it died.

And coincidentally, this weekend as I was driving south on the 405 
through the Sepulveda pass, traffic was actually flowing OK until near 
the top of the hill and soon I saw the reason why is was slowing:

A car in the #2 lane was stalled, and the driver (a middle aged man) was 
standing in front of the vehicle with the hood up!!!!  This wasn't 
exactly in stop-and-go traffic, either.

Anyone see in the paper about that fatality?  I can only assume it 
happened, or else he was extremely lucky.