Emergencies and breakdowns

The rule behind all of them

Emergencies share a shape. Something changes suddenly, the instinct that arrives first is usually wrong, and the correct action is small, smooth and immediate. Slamming a control, whipping the wheel or freezing are the three failures. In almost every case the right response is to keep both hands on the wheel, ease off the accelerator rather than stamping on the brake, look at the space you want to reach rather than at the thing you are afraid of, and steer there.

Looking where you want to go is not a slogan. Your hands follow your eyes without being asked, which is why a driver who stares at the pole hits the pole. Practising the habit in ordinary driving, by looking well ahead through curves and into the gaps rather than at the obstacles, is what makes it available when there is no time to think.

Skids

A skid means the tires have run out of grip, and grip runs out for one of three reasons: braking too hard, accelerating too hard, or steering too sharply for the surface. Since the cause is nearly always something the driver did, the first response is to undo it. Ease off whatever you were doing, whether that is the brake or the accelerator, and give the tires a chance to grip again.

Then steer. If the back of the car has slid out, look where you want the car to go and steer gently in that direction, which means turning into the skid rather than against it. Be ready for the back to come back the other way and to correct again, more gently than the first time. Sudden inputs turn one skid into a worse one.

Braking depends on the vehicle. Nearly all modern cars have anti lock brakes, which allow you to press firmly and keep steering while the system pulses the brakes for you; the pedal will shudder and buzz under your foot, and that is the system working, not a fault. In an older vehicle without the system, the technique is to squeeze the brake short of locking the wheels, easing off if they lock so that the front wheels can steer again. Either way, the way to avoid needing any of this is speed and space suited to the surface.

When something on the vehicle fails

A tire that blows out feels like the car being pulled hard to one side, often with a loud bang. Hold the wheel firmly with both hands, do not brake hard, and let the vehicle slow on its own while you steer straight. Once the speed is down and you have control, signal, move gently onto the shoulder and stop well clear of the traffic lane. Braking hard on a blown tire is what turns a repair into a spin.

If the brakes feel soft or go to the floor, pump the pedal to try to build pressure, downshift or select a lower gear to let the engine slow the car, and apply the parking brake gradually rather than yanking it on, since a sudden parking brake can lock the rear wheels. At the same time, look for somewhere to run out of speed: an uphill slope, an empty shoulder, a stretch of open ground. Use the horn and the hazard lights to warn everyone around you.

If the accelerator sticks, shift to neutral, brake to a stop and turn the engine off once you are stopped, not while you are still moving, because switching off can lock the steering and kill the power assistance. If the engine dies while you are moving, expect the steering and brakes to become much heavier, keep hold of the wheel, and steer to the side of the road. If the headlights fail at night, try the high beams, the hazard lights and the signals to get any light at all, and pull over as soon as you safely can.

Stopping at the roadside

If you have to stop because of a breakdown, the aim is to get the vehicle as far away from moving traffic as you can. Signal, slow gradually, and take the shoulder or a side road or a parking area, choosing a spot where you are visible from a distance rather than just past a crest or around a bend. Turn on the hazard lights, and in daylight and darkness alike, leave the vehicle where approaching drivers can see it early.

Whether to stay in the car depends on where you are. On a busy highway, the safest place is usually out of the vehicle and behind a barrier, away from the traffic side, because a stopped vehicle on a shoulder is at risk of being struck. Where there is no safe space to stand and the weather is severe, staying belted inside with the hazard lights on is often the better choice. In a Canadian winter, that judgement also has to include the cold, which is the argument for carrying a blanket, warm clothes, a shovel and a charged phone from the first snow to the last.

Call for help rather than attempting a repair in a live lane. If you change a tire yourself, do it only on firm level ground on the side away from traffic, with the vehicle in park or in gear and the parking brake on. Never get under a vehicle held up by a jack.

If you are in a collision

Stop. Leaving the scene of a collision is a serious offence everywhere in Canada, however minor the damage looks. Check whether anyone is hurt and call for emergency help if they are, or if any vehicle cannot be driven, or if the situation is blocking traffic dangerously. Do not move a seriously injured person unless leaving them where they are puts them in more danger.

Make the scene safe. Hazard lights on, and if the vehicles can be driven and nobody is hurt, moving them out of the traffic lane is usually the right call, because a second collision into the first one is a real risk. Then exchange information with the other driver: names, addresses, licence details, plate numbers, and insurance company and policy details. Note the time, the place and the conditions, take photographs if you can, and get contact details for any witness.

Reporting duties are provincial. Every province requires a collision to be reported when someone is injured or when the damage passes a set amount, and some require reporting through a collision reporting centre within a set time. The threshold, the deadline and the place to report are all provincial figures, so look them up on your province page and keep them with your insurance papers rather than trying to remember them at the roadside.