Medusa

Easy Steps To Take When Your Car Breaks Down

<p>When you’ve not been driving for very long&comma; it can be a bit scary and daunting when your car breaks down and you might not know what to do&period; This is why we’ve put together some useful advice on what steps to take when you suffer a breakdown&comma; so you can be completely prepared when travelling to and from university&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center"><img class&equals;"aligncenter" title&equals;"traffic on a french road" alt&equals;"" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;smartphotostock&period;com&sol;uploads&sol;0&sol;traffic-on-a-french-road&period;jpg" width&equals;"586" height&equals;"395" &sol;><strong><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; left"><strong>Stop as soon as possible<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Should your car begin to sound as though the engine is suffering or your warning lights come on&comma; make sure you stop as soon as possible&period; It is far safer to be able to pull over on the side of a road&comma; then carry on till it’s too late and breakdown in the middle of moving traffic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you’ve been able to pull over&comma; make sure you park as far left as possible so as to avoid oncoming traffic&period; It is also a good idea to turn your wheels to the left&comma; and to exit on the passenger side&comma; not the driver’s&comma; particularly if it is a busy road&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><strong>Make yourself visible<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Wherever you have stopped&comma; it is important to make sure yourself as visible as possible&semi; put your hazard lights on and&comma; if it is dark&comma; your sidelights too&period; If you’ve stopped in the middle of the road&comma; you should switch your interior lights on so it is easier for other cars to see you&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Should you have a high-visibility jacket&comma; make sure you slip this on&comma; so you can be seen as you exit the car – which you must do if you’re managed to pull over on the side&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you’ve broken down on a small road&comma; put your warning triangle – should you have one – about 50 yards in front of the car in the way of moving traffic&comma; making sure to be careful yourself when doing this&period; However&comma; if you’re on a motorway&comma; don’t use your warning triangle&comma; as this can confuse oncoming vehicles and put yourself at danger&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><strong>Get out of the car<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Make sure you get out of the car as soon as possible&comma; and put yourself and any other passengers far out of the way of the vehicle&period; Go behind a barrier if there is one or try to climb up the bank if you’re on a motorway&semi; the further away from the car you are&comma; the better&comma; as one of the biggest dangers to breakdown drivers is other vehicles crashing into them&period; Therefore&comma; it is also wise to not stand in front of the car&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The only incidence where you might stay in the vehicle is if you think you are in danger&comma; such as if it is night-time and you’re in an unsafe area and you feel vulnerable&period; However&comma; in this circumstance&comma; make sure you call the emergency services to let them know your whereabouts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Should you be travelling with animals&comma; keep these secure in the car&comma; as they can cause serious accidents if they are let loose on the road&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><strong>Call your breakdown cover<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>As soon as you are in a safe position&comma; you can call your breakdown service&period; Lots of companies these days have their own mobile phone apps&period; These often allow you to input your exact location and they can then track your whereabouts through their GPS system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you don’t have an app&comma; then try to be as specific as possible so they can easily find you on the road&period; Should you not have breakdown cover and you’ve stopped on a motorway&comma; call the Highways Agency as soon as possible&period; They may send someone from the nearest garage to come and get you&semi; however&comma; you should be prepared for a costly bill&comma; something that might tempt you to getting breakdown cover in the future&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Students who aren’t sure if they have breakdown cover should call their insurance providers&comma; as many policies include this as part of their package&comma; and you don’t want to incur any unnecessary costs that you can avoid&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you don’t have a mobile &lpar;although most students these days will have at least one&excl;&rpar; or yours has run out of battery&comma; you can walk to the nearest emergency phone if you’re on the motorway&period; These will be marked by arrows on the hard shoulder&period; Be careful when you go to find these though&comma; as you don’t want to put yourself in any danger when walking along the hard shoulder next to extremely fast traffic&excl;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><strong>Never attempt to fix it yourself<&sol;strong><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The golden rule when you’ve suffered a breakdown is to not attempt to fix the problem yourself&period; You might consider yourself a budding mechanic&comma; but trying to repair the vehicle can put you and other passengers in danger&period; For a start&comma; if you need to do any work on the right-hand side of the car &lpar;such as change a wheel&rpar;&comma; you will be putting yourself closer to oncoming traffic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Secondly&comma; you might in fact make the problem worse by not doing the job properly&comma; and find yourself suffer a more serious breakdown further down the road&period; It could be harder to get assistance and a phone signal here&comma; and as it’ll be later in the day&comma; it may be a lot darker&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By knowing these rules when it comes to a breakdown&comma; you should feel confident should something serious happen to your vehicle&period; That way&comma; you can have fun driving and enjoy the little bit of freedom that comes with having a car while studying at a UK university&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h5>Featured images&colon;<&sol;h5>&NewLine;<p><span class&equals;"license">Photo credit&colon; smartphotostock&period;com<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Natasha Al-Atassi is a student and property journalist and avid wedding blogger&period; She contributes to a number of popular blogs including Vita Student as well as answering questions on popular student forums&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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