How to stay alive if the car stalled in the middle of the highway

Imagine a situation: a car suddenly stops on the Moscow Ring Road or a freeway, blocking the left or middle lane, and does not respond to the turns of the ignition key. On a highway with heavy traffic, this threatens a terrible accident with numerous victims. How to protect yourself and other road users as much as possible in such circumstances?

Usually, a car that has stalled at speed continues to move by inertia for some time, so you can almost always taxi to the side of the road. The main thing is not to turn off the ignition, otherwise the steering wheel will lock. In such a situation, in no case do not miss the opportunity to move off the road, otherwise, stopping on the roadway, you will fall into a real trap.

If for some reason this still happened, the first thing to do is turn on the alarm. Do not forget - in case of a forced stop outside settlements on the roadway or roadside, the driver must wear a reflective vest. This must be done before running to put up an emergency stop sign.

According to the rules in populated areas, it should be at least 15 m from the vehicle, and outside the city - at least 30 m. On a busy highway, it is advisable to set it as far as possible, but in itself any movement on foot on a highway is extremely dangerous , so do everything quickly and carefully monitor the situation around.

Then you need to urgently call a tow truck. Next, assess the situation and, if possible, roll the car to the side of the road. The resulting traffic jam will only save you by reducing the intensity of traffic on the road.

Paragraph 16.2 of the SDA obliges the driver "to take measures in order to bring the car to the lane intended for this (to the right of the line marking the edge of the carriageway)". After all, a car standing in the middle of a highway is a serious threat to the health and life of many people, so it is necessary to remove it from there as soon as possible. But “take action” is a vague concept.

Firstly, it happens that it is impossible to remove the vehicle from the roadway due to running gear malfunctions - for example, when the ball joint is knocked out and the car is completely immobilized. Secondly, what is a fragile girl to do alone? Standing in the left lane and waving your arms, trying to stop cars flying past at a speed of over 100 km per hour is suicide. There is only one way out - to run to the side of the road, but this is possible if one lane separates you from it. On the wide MKAD with five lanes and dense high-speed traffic, such an attempt would be suicide.

Therefore, left alone on the roadway with your paralyzed iron friend, you should find the safest place and wait for the arrival of the tow truck there. For obvious reasons, getting into a parked car is not the best solution. Alas, the best option is no less extreme - to stand at some distance behind your car in the direction of travel.