Car safety 101: Crashes, road rage, weather and more
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Often, when I'm driving over a bridge or next to a body of water, an intrusive thought will pop into my head. What would happen if I lost control of the car or somebody hit me and my car and I ended up in the water? Tell me I'm not alone in this. The thought doesn't stop there for me because then I get really practical with it. And this is probably why they picked me to host a show like Life Kit because I'm like...

Seriously, though, what would I do? Are there best practices? Do you try to open the door or the window? What if you can't? How much time do you have? Turns out there are answers to these questions. This particular scenario has been studied and tested. Yes, researchers have submerged cars in pursuit of this knowledge. And I don't know about you, but knowing what I should do if this ever happens makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.

Luckily, cars don't fall into lakes and rivers very often. It's unlikely to ever happen to you. We will share the advice anyway.

But more broadly, this episode of Life Kit is about how to drive safely in lots of different situations. If you have a driver's license, you should know the basic rules of the road. Buckle your seatbelt, use your turn signal. But there's a lot more to it than that and situations that come up that you may not feel prepared for. I talked to Hector Correas, an officer with the California Highway Patrol, about what to do when your car stalls out, when you get into an accident, when somebody's being aggressive towards you on the highway, and more.

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So Hector, you're an officer for the California Highway Patrol. In your experience, what is one of the most common mistakes people make when they're driving? Yeah, so speeding is a big thing. There's speed limits in place for a reason. There's traffic survey studies that have been done on specific roadways to determine what a safe speed is. And so people don't realize that, hey, speeding can contribute to not only not being able to avoid a potential hazard, right, safely, but it can also contribute

be a determining factor in the severity of a crash. Okay. Well, let's keep going through some scenarios. Thinking about speed and driving and other people being around you, what should you do if somebody is right up behind you trying to get you to go faster? If someone's tailgating, right, trying to push you forward, I always say, hey, let them by. There's no reason for you to try to speed up

Yeah. Or if it's a one-lane road, maybe you can pull over to the side. Yeah, there's nothing that says you can't pull over and let vehicles pass. What if somebody gets mad at you? Like, sometimes people will just straight up give me the finger. Or, like, there was a lady who was yelling at me, and she pulled over.

pulled up right next to me this was in LA and rolled down her window and started hitting my car with her hand like it's it's hard to know in those moments what to do yeah so we like to exercise patience

We can't control other people's actions, right? We can control our own actions. Oftentimes when things escalate, it's because there's retaliation of some kind, right? Someone was giving you the finger or whatever that might be. You retaliate accordingly and then things can escalate from there. So we do try to advise like, hey,

Ultimately, what does that do to you? It just hurts my little feelings, you know? Right? It hurts your feelings, but ultimately, you're still living your life. You're still safely driving down the road. Now, if someone is right away possibly being combative or assaultive, then obviously that's not okay. We do want people to, if they feel threatened in any way, contact law enforcement. Mm-hmm. So let's say someone is being threatening. Mm-hmm.

They're following you, you know, aggressively tailgating or they keep trying to get you to pull over or they flash a gun or something like that. Like, what can you do in the meantime before you've called 911? Now what?

If it's an instance like that to where it might maybe have escalated to the point of maybe you saw someone brandishing a firearm of some kind or you feel really threatened that maybe this car has been following you for a long distance or whatever it might be, contact 911. More often than not, our dispatch will stay on the phone and we'll give you direction. What you don't want to do is you don't want to stop, continue on the road, and then we'll give you a designated maybe exit or location where an officer will try to meet you at that location.

Sometimes when people get annoyed with you on the road, especially if you're in traffic and you can't get away from them, maybe they're in front of you and they keep brake checking you.

you know, they keep stopping short, so you'll have to stop short. What do you do in those scenarios where you're just like, I just want to get away from this person, but I'm driving in basically bumper-to-bumper traffic? Right. So if you are maybe a bumper-to-bumper traffic person is trying to kind of brake check you or whatever it might be, exit. The next exit, get off the freeway. Now, if you try to remove yourself...

and that person decides to follow or continue to try to, let's say, harass you in that instance, contact 911, and then we can figure things out from there. Takeaway one. Sometimes the scariest part of driving is dealing with the other people who are behind the wheel.

Make sure you're driving at a safe speed, at or below the speed limit, regardless of what other people are doing. And as hard as it is, just don't engage with people who have road rage. If they want to give you the finger, let them give you the finger. Ignore their taunts. Let them pass. And if you're worried about your safety, call 911 and do your best to get away from the other driver. Okay, let's talk about some other risks when you're in the car.

Let's say you're driving and your car stalls out or runs out of gas. Okay. You're on the highway. What do you do next in that moment? Sure. So first of all, don't panic. If your vehicle's in motion and maybe something mechanically happens to your vehicle, a lot of people are inclined to slam on the brakes. What you want to do is release the accelerator.

If you can, try to veer to the shoulder. Try to get out of the traffic lane and try to come to a safe stop on the right shoulder of the freeway or highway.

So I'm thinking you put your hazard lights on right away. Ideally, yep, put those hazard lights on, contact 911 or whatever emergency personnel you're able to communicate with at that time. And then we actually think that it's safer to be in your vehicle buckled in. So if you're able to avoid the driver's side, maybe you're a solo passenger or solo driver in your vehicle, hop into the passenger side. We always say the passenger side is safer.

when you're on the shoulder. So if you can avoid being on the driver's side, swap over to the front passenger seat, put your buckle on and kind of wait for help. Okay.

Now, what if you start to see something happening with your car, like your car smoke is coming out of the engine or it looks like it might light on fire? Obviously, you're going to get out of the car, right? Yeah, 100%. If you start seeing smoke or possible flames, yeah, you don't want to stay in there. So you are going to want to exit the vehicle, try to get as far away as possible and contact emergency personnel.

Takeaway two, if your car malfunctions while you're driving, you want to exit the traffic lane if possible. Pull off to the shoulder or the side of the road. Put your hazards on. And if you're driving alone, get into the passenger seat. Either way, buckle your seatbelt and call for roadside assistance through your insurance company or another provider like AAA. If you're not sure who to call, you can also call 911.

What about if you get into an accident? Just best practices from fender bender to something more serious. Yeah. So if you happen to be involved in any type of minor collision where no one's maybe seriously injured or hurt and your vehicle is still drivable at that moment, it's okay to move your vehicle out of the traffic lane.

A lot of people think that once they get involved in some type of incident, that they have to leave the cars there in order for a crash to be investigated. That's not necessarily the case, specifically when we're referring to minor traffic collisions. If you do get into a minor accident, like a fender bender where nobody's hurt, should

Should you still call the police and wait for them to show up and document the damage? If it's a minor traffic collision, meaning that there's no injuries involved, only property damage, the only thing that you're required to do is provide the other person your contact information, all the stuff that you have on your driver's license. You're required to provide your vehicle information in the form of like a registration card,

and you're required to provide insurance information. Non-injury crashes become...

civil matters for the most part. And so that's why law enforcement contact isn't always necessarily involved. But if someone doesn't provide you that basic information, then it can be considered hit and run or it can be something along those lines to where they are breaking a law because they are required to provide you certain information. Okay. That's good to know. I always say, yeah, the main three things is the driver's license information,

insurance information, meaning policy number, and then vehicle information, the plate number down, the type of car. And if you're able to take pictures, take pictures. Okay. So what about a more serious accident? If you're involved in a major traffic crash and there are some injuries involved, the first thing we do, the first opportunity is you're going to call 911, right? Right.

Now pertaining to your vehicle, oftentimes in a major crash, those vehicles are inoperable. So you're unable to move them. If you feel that you are injured to the point of unable to move or anything along those lines, then obviously you do want to stay in your position. But if you're able to remove yourself from the vehicle, get to a safe spot and wait for emergency personnel. Yeah, what if like you're okay, but then somebody in your car is not okay? Yeah, it goes for everybody involved. If there's anybody that's injured within...

Any of the involved vehicles, contact 911 and then things will get investigated through there. Now, if somebody, maybe they have some nicks and bruises and they're still coherent, they're not unconscious, they're able to manipulate their extremities and maybe they're okay, you're able to communicate with them and you're saying, hey, are you okay to get out of the car? By all means, remove them from the vehicle if you're able to.

Now, if something's a little more serious and maybe they're unconscious or maybe they're unresponsive or something along those lines, then at that moment, we do want to leave that to the proper emergency personnel to be able to provide that medical attention if needed.

Takeaway three, if you're in a minor collision, meaning no one is injured, exchange contact info with all of the drivers involved. That means driver's license, insurance information, and vehicle information like the plates and registration number. If you're involved in a more serious crash, call 911. If your injuries are minor, you can try to remove yourself from the car. But you might want to stay put if your injuries are serious or you're unsure how bad they are.

You're going to have to use your judgment here. Obviously, if the car's on fire, you're going to need to get out. Okay, let's talk about certain driving conditions. So if you're driving through a heavy rainstorm, what precautions should you be taking? First and foremost, I always like to say in any extreme weather, if you don't have to be on the road,

Don't get on the road. Now, if you do absolutely have to drive somewhere to get to your prospective destination, make sure your vehicle's in proper working order. Make sure you're getting your oil changes done, making sure that all your lights, signal lights, headlights, rear lights, brake lights, everything's working properly. Also, tires. What we see a lot of is people driving with really worn tires.

So make sure that everything is up to par when it comes to your prospective vehicle. Now, when you're out on the road and say you are driving in extreme rainy conditions,

Speed is a big thing. So slow down. Give yourself more time to be reactive. Again, make sure your wipers, that they're working properly. They should be able to kind of squeegee your windshield, right? So you're able to have a visual of what's in front of you. And then you're driving with your headlights. In the state of California, it's actually the law that if your windshield wipers are going, your headlights should be illuminated, right?

I have a little saying that goes, if your wipers are going, your headlights are glowing. What if you're driving in the winter and your car skids on the ice? Yeah, so plan ahead. Having specific types of tires that are made for snow or ice can sometimes help in those situations.

But if you encounter yourself in like a skid of some kind, maybe you did hit a patch of ice and you start to slide, try not to panic. A lot of time, once you've already started sliding, you're kind of going along for the ride.

And hopefully your wheels are able to gain traction again at some point. But you don't want to try to accelerate out of it. You don't want to do anything like that. Also, according to AAA, in this situation, you want to avoid slamming on your brakes and cautiously turn your wheel in the direction you want the car to go. You'll straighten the wheel as you feel the car straighten out. What if you're driving in heavy fog? The faster you go, the longer it's going to take for you to stop. So speed is the main thing. Slow, reduce your speed.

Make sure also that your headlights are illuminated. Illuminating your lights allows other drivers to be able to see your vehicle in the fog. If your vehicle comes equipped with fog lamps, turn on those fog lamps. They're called fog lamps for a reason. And then importantly too, make sure that you have those lights on, but do not put on your high beams. High beams are not good for your car.

High beams actually makes it worse. Fog is essentially water molecules shining bright light at those water molecules. They're just going to reflect that light back to you, and it actually makes it harder to see if you have those high beams on. What about, you know, like in the winter when your window will start to get foggy because of the difference in temperature inside and outside? Most vehicles do come with defrosting options.

So if you're able to put that setting on to keep your window defrosted, specifically your windshield, put it on. I've come to find out that normally having the AC setting kind of clears it up a lot faster than if you didn't have the AC setting on. Yeah. While you're trying to defrost your windshield. Okay. Takeaway four, in any extreme weather situation, Hector says you want to avoid driving if you can.

But if you are already driving or you have to do it, slow down, turn on your headlights and help yourself ahead of time by making sure your car is well maintained, that you have the right tires for driving through snow or ice if you're in a place where that's necessary, and that your lights and wipers are working. ♪

So I want to talk about one scenario that I hope never happens to anyone listening to this, but it scares me when I'm going over bridges. What would happen if my car fell into this body of water? Sure. The moment that you start to submerge, unbuckle yourself. Start to roll down your windows. What you don't want to do is try to open the door.

So try to get the windows to roll down and then get out of the vehicle. Now, for any reason, maybe you're not able to roll down the windows. Do your best to try to shatter the window using your elbow, using whatever you can so you can get out. And if for some reason you can't roll down your windows and you can't break the window, is it over?

Well, unless you're able to breathe underwater, I mean, I would just do everything in your power to try to get out of the car. There's also, you can buy window punches. It allows you to easily break glass. It almost looks like a little metal spear that's propelled forward. It's a device that fits in your hand, and that's something that maybe you can even carry in your car.

And it shatters the glass. Well, speaking of what should be in our emergency kit? Yeah. So I will always say some type of first aid kit of any kind. You do want to have water if for some reason you get stranded somewhere for an extended period of time. Sometimes if you have a dead battery of some kind, if you have jumper cables in your car, that's always beneficial. Have some type of lighting source like a flashlight would be beneficial.

If you know you're going to somewhere super cold, have a blanket, some towels. But yeah.

Takeaway five, be prepared for accidents of all kinds. Keep emergency supplies in your car, including a first aid kit, water, jumper cables, a flashlight, blankets, and a window punch. AAA also recommends keeping a basic set of tools in the car and road flares or reflectors in case you need to warn other cars that you're having an emergency situation. It's a good idea to keep the window punch in your glove compartment or in the front of your car, not in the trunk, so it's accessible if you need it.

And if your car ends up submerged in water, unbuckle, roll down your window or break it with the window punch and then exit and swim to safety. OK, this has been great, Hector. I feel like I learned a lot. I really appreciate it. No, no, I appreciate you. Thank you very much. All right. It's time for a recap. Takeaway one, don't speed and don't get involved with people who are road raging.

Takeaway two, if there's a mechanical problem with your car, get it off the road and call for roadside assistance. Stay in your car with your seatbelt fastened until help comes. Takeaway three, for minor collisions where nobody's hurt, make sure you exchange all the necessary information with the other drivers. And for major crashes, call 911.

Takeaway four, avoid driving in extreme weather. But if you have to, drive slowly and use your lights and windshield wipers. And in general, make sure you're keeping on top of car maintenance. And takeaway five, keep emergency supplies in your car, including a first aid kit, water, jumper cables, blankets, a window punch, a basic set of tools, and road flares or reflectors. ♪

For more Life Kit, check out our other episodes. We've got one on how to keep your car running smoothly and another on what to do when there's a flash flood warning while you're driving. You can find those at npr.org slash life kit. And if you love Life Kit and want even more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash life kit newsletter. Also, we love hearing from you. So if you have episode ideas or feedback you want to share, email us at life kit at npr.org.

This episode of Life Kit was produced by Margaret Serino. Our visuals editor is Beck Harlan, and our digital editor is Malika Gharib. Megan Cain is our supervising editor, and Beth Donovan is our executive producer. Our production team also includes Andy Tegel, Claire Marie Schneider, Sam Yella-Horse-Kessler, and Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support comes from Patrick Murray. I'm Mariel Segarra. Thanks for listening.

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