Here’s the thing most people don’t know until they’re standing on the side of a highway with their heart pounding: what you do after your car stops moving can be just as dangerous as the breakdown itself.
The safest first move is always to get your car off the road entirely. If it’s still rolling at all — even slowly — guide it to the shoulder, an exit ramp, a parking lot, anywhere that puts space between you and live traffic. Turn on your hazard lights immediately, even before you’ve fully stopped.
Now here’s where it gets nuanced. Once you’re stopped, the right call depends on where you ended up.
According to Progressive, if you can’t get off the road, it’s generally safer to stay inside your vehicle. Seatbelt on. Hazard lights flashing. And call for help from inside the car.
But if you do make it to the shoulder? State Farm advises moving away from the car — carefully, in the direction opposite traffic, toward the far right — to a wide shoulder, guardrail, or sidewalk if one’s nearby. The reason: a car sitting on a highway shoulder can still get rear-ended, and you don’t want to be inside it when that happens.
So the two scenarios play out like this:
**Stuck in traffic or on the roadway itself?** Stay inside with your seatbelt on and call for help. Don’t try to run through moving traffic.
**On the shoulder with room to move?** Get out on the passenger side (away from traffic), move as far to the right as possible, and wait somewhere away from the vehicle.
A few other things worth knowing. Keep reflective triangles or flares in your car if you can — they give approaching drivers more warning. And if you’re ever truly in immediate danger, that’s what 911 is for.
The short version: don’t just bolt from the car and don’t just sit frozen inside it. Read where you are first, then act.
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