Staying Safe While You Wait

People get hurt on the side of the road. Not usually in the breakdown — in the wait afterwards, when a vehicle is stopped somewhere drivers do not expect one and somebody is standing next to it.

The right answer depends heavily on where you are, so this is split by situation.

On an interstate shoulder

• Get as far right as you can. Past the white line, onto the shoulder, and further if there is room. Every foot counts.
• Hazards on immediately. Before anything else.
• Turn the wheels away from traffic. If the car is struck from behind it will be pushed away from the lanes rather than into them.
• Get out on the passenger side, or stay in. If traffic is fast and heavy, staying belted in is often the safer choice. If you do get out, it is never the traffic side.
• Stand well back and behind something. Behind a barrier, up the embankment, well ahead of or behind the vehicle. Never beside it, never between two vehicles, and never in front of it.
• Do not attempt a tire change on the traffic side. This is how people are killed. If the flat is on the driver’s side of an interstate, call for a tow or a roadside change instead.
• Do not walk to the exit. Interstate shoulders are not built for pedestrians and drivers are not looking for one.

On a rural two-lane road

Different risks. Traffic is lighter but sightlines are shorter, there is often no shoulder at all, and help is further away. Roads like Highway 94 south of Weldon Spring and Highway 79 north of St. Charles are the local examples.

• Get off the pavement entirely if the ground will take it, but know that a soft shoulder in the wet turns a breakdown into a winch-out.
• Think about the curve. Stopping just past a blind bend is the worst place. If you can coast to somewhere with sightlines, do.
• Hazards on, and consider your lights at night. Rural roads are genuinely dark.
• Call while you have a cell signal. Coverage in the river valleys and bluffs is patchy. Do not wait to see if it improves.
• Stay with the vehicle. It is easier to find than you are, and it is shelter.

In a parking lot or a driveway

Much less dangerous, and the advice is mostly practical. Stay with the vehicle if you are somewhere you would rather not leave it. If you are in a well-lit lot with people around and you would be more comfortable inside a store, that is fine — tell us where you will be and what the vehicle looks like when you call.

If you are alone in a dark lot late at night, say so. It changes how we prioritize the call.

In winter

Cold changes the calculation. If it is genuinely cold and you are waiting in the vehicle, you can run the engine for heat — but check that the exhaust pipe is clear of snow first. A blocked exhaust puts carbon monoxide into the cabin, and that kills people every year.

Run it in cycles rather than continuously, keep a window cracked slightly, and if you have a blanket or a coat in the car, use it rather than relying on the engine.

What to have in the car before any of this

• A phone charger. A dead phone turns a breakdown into a real problem.
• A flashlight that is not your phone.
• A reflective vest or something high-visibility. Cheap, small, and genuinely effective.
• A blanket, from October onwards.
• Water.
• Your insurance and roadside numbers, saved where you can find them without hunting.

Need a hand right now?

We run 24 hours a day across St. Charles County — St. Charles, St. Peters, O'Fallon, Wentzville and everywhere in between, plus the highway corridors. Call (636) 466-8097.