What to do when your car breaks down
Standing on the highway by a disabled car can be a fatal mistake.
In one case, two Indiana women were surveying the damage caused by a fender bender. A tow-truck driver didn't notice them, and one of them was struck and killed. The other was seriously injured.
A few days earlier, a woman was killed as she hastily crossed a highway on foot after her car broke down.
At about the same time, in Virginia, a father and son were killed by a truck after they stopped to offer help to a stranded motorist.
State police and the American Automobile Association give this advice:
* Stay in the car. Pull the vehicle off the road, activate emergency flashers and call for help.
If you have to get out, get away from the vehicle as quickly as you can.
* If you are on a middle lane of an Interstate, the AAA recommends activating emergency flashers. Georgia State Police recommend staying inside the car where you at least have some protection. AAA recommends getting out of the car to the side of the road, if it can be done safely.
* Never stand directly in front of or behind a vehicle in case it is struck by another car or truck.
Each year, 16 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur on freeways, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. They don't track how many of those victims got out of stranded vehicles.
In any case, the worst thing you can do is to stand around outside the vehicle while waiting for help. Drivers approaching in a line of cars and trucks will not see you until it's too late.
