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[simplestopwatch]Even drivers who are skilled, focused and well prepared can find themselves in challenging situations and even in the middle of a life-threatening emergency. The key is being prepared for emergency situations (since you don't expect them and never know when they will occur). Knowing how to respond to the unexpected in order to minimize injuries and damage can make all the difference.
Let’s examine emergencies that drivers can experience, including risky situations where a vehicle loses traction on the roadway. Other situations addressed include mechanical failures, such as brake failure and adverse weather conditions, such as rain, fog, snow and ice. If you are fully prepared to deal with these situations before they occur, you will be ready to take any action needed to avoid a collision.
Imagine a very risky situation, one in which some or all of the vehicle’s tires move off the pavement. The car may have been forced off the road, or the driver may just not have been paying attention.
Driving off the edge of the roadway, even with just one side of the vehicle, can be very risky because it can easily lead to a roll over crash.
If you find yourself in this situation, follow the steps:
First, remain calm and keep the steering wheel pointed straight, even if you’re half on and half off the pavement.
Second, gently ease off the accelerator. You want to start slowing down, but without upsetting the balance of the vehicle.
Third, unless something is directly in your path ahead, do not try to steer back onto the roadway until your speed is lower. Let the car slow as much as possible before trying to get back on the road.
Lastly, check for traffic from behind, signal and safely turn back onto the road.
The most common mistake is panicking and trying to get back on the road too fast or edging gradually back and having the tires catch the edge of the pavement. The result can be disastrous.
What should you do if your right-side wheels have moved off the edge of the road, but there is something blocking your way just ahead?
Any time that one or more of your wheels are off the edge of the roadway is a very risky situation.
This situation needs to be considered extremely dangerous. How you respond will make the difference between crashing or moving smoothly back onto the road.
A dangerous situation that involves loss of traction is skidding.
What causes a skid? Driving too fast into and/or through a corner or aggressive steering when attempting to return to the roadway. Remember, a calm gradual return to the road is your best choice. Some drivers tend to move the wheel too sharply which can cause your vehicle to overturn or thrust you into oncoming traffic. This is called overcorrecting.
When you experience a skid, continue to look and steer in the direction you want to go. You tend to drive where you are looking. When drivers look at a target, the brain makes their hands and feet move toward that target. For example, if you see 2 light poles, focus on the space between the poles.
A good way to remember looking and steering where you want to go is to consider kicking a ball. When kicking a soccer ball, you aim at the goal or teammate you’re passing to. When throwing a ball, you look at the person you are throwing the ball to.
Sometimes, no matter what you do to prevent losing traction, there’s no way to avoid it and you find yourself in a skid. Most skids come from braking too hard. Usually this tends to happen on a slippery surface, or perhaps you have tried to turn too quickly, and it also can happen from trying to accelerate too rapidly.
In a front-wheel, or ‘understeer’ skid, your vehicle will continue going straight, even though you are trying to make a turn. You have turned the wheels, but the vehicle is not responding to your steering, because the front tires have lost traction with the pavement.
In a rear-wheeled, or ‘oversteer’ skid, the rear of your vehicle will slide out from under you. The vehicle is turning more than you have steered it.
In any type of skid, the most important thing you can do is to avoid slamming on the brakes. Slamming on the brakes is a drivers most typical response in any emergency, but in a skid, slamming the brakes will only further upset the vehicles balance and make it harder for you to regain control. Instead, continue to look and steer where you want to go and ease up on the accelerator.
Be ready to turn the steering wheel back in the opposite direction to prevent the vehicle from skidding in the other direction. You may have to turn the wheel back and forth several times to completely line up with the road.
Let’s explore some effective strategies to prevent skids.
We want to never demand more traction from out tires than they can provide in any situation.
In wet, snowy or icy conditions, drive at a slow steady speed and avoid slamming on the brakes. Traction is reduced by 50% on snow and 20% in moderate rainfall. Ice may result in little or no traction. Listen to weather reports when traveling.
What kinds of mechanical emergency situations could drivers encounter?
Sometimes, the solutions to some emergencies are straightforward, but others may require more effort and skill.
Although most cars are generally reliable, things can still go wrong. Engines can have problems, lights can go out, tires can go flat, and brakes can fail. But if you are prepared when they do happen, you can decrease your risk and lessen the amount of time you are without a vehicle.
If your engine stops providing power or shuts down altogether while you’re driving, it could be dangerous. If your engine begins to stall, shifting to neutral can help you keep forward momentum going. If this occurs, check for nearby traffic, signal, and safely steer to the shoulder of the road to a protected position. It is important to know that when you lose engine power, you also lose your power for steering and braking. They will both still work, but you will need more force to turn and brake.
Many things can cause a blowout while driving, including low tire pressure, debris on the road, worn tires, and potholes just to name few.:
The first thing is to try to regain some braking power. First, rapidly pump the brake pedal several times. This may build up enough brake pressure to slow or stop the car.
Next, downshift to a lower gear. It won’t stop you, but it might help slow you down. Now, try the parking brake. If it’s mounted next to the seat, you can operate it with your hand. Remember to press and hold the release button at the same time, if you don’t, your wheels may lock and you could go into a skid.
If your parking brake is mounted on the floor, be sure to pull and hold the brake release lever at the same time so you can fully control the brake.
If these maneuvers don’t help, you will need to find an open space to safely maneuver your vehicle. The shoulder is your best bet if there is one. If there is not, look for any open area, a field or lawn. If there is a curb, try steering so that your wheels drag alongside of it. It is hard on the tires, but it can help bring you to a stop. It may be impossible to avoid hitting something, if that’s the case, try for something soft that will give way when you contact it.
Once you bring your car to a stop, leave it where it is.
If this happens, view the road ahead by looking through the gap between the bottom of the windshield and the lowest edge of the hood. Keep your safety belt on, and pull safely to the side of the road in a safe location.
Leaning out the window while the vehicle is moving is NOT recommended.
While driving in clear conditions can be challenging, driving in the rain can be even more difficult. Visibility is certainly reduced. Keeping your windshield wipers fresh can help, but sometimes it is still hard to see. That’s why you need to allow more space around your vehicle in wet conditions.
To help maintain enough space in any adverse visual conditions, follow the ‘sight distance rule’ which says that you must be able to stop in the distance that you can see. That means that you should be going slowly enough that, if something enters your path, you should be able to stop. As your sight distance becomes shorter, your following distance should become longer.
Also, remember, if you wipers are on, you must also have your headlights on.
This is also a really good time to maintain space to the side by avoiding driving in a pack of cars. That way, if you do run into trouble, braking is not your only option, you can also choose to move into an open space.
Having a lot of space around your vehicle is good at any time, but it is especially helpful when visibility is poor and traction is reduced.
Fog is another troublesome challenge to visibility. When you drive through fog, light can be reflected from water droplets back onto your eyes, making it harder to see ahead.
The problem is that although you might be able to see the pavement directly in front of your car, you won’t be able to see anything up ahead on the road, such as another vehicle. That’s why it is so important to adjust your speed downward to adjust for the reduced visibility caused by the fog.
Also, it may be tempting to use your high beams, but it is actually better to use low beams in fog. With high beams, the fog will reflect even more light back into your eyes. Remember to slow down in fog, it will give you more time to respond to anything that suddenly appears in your path of travel.
Use the quiz below to test yourself on the material you have learned!
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