Roadside Safety After an Auto Accident or Car Trouble on the Highway
Have you suffered a serious injury in an auto accident? If so, the legal team at Silverman, McDonald & Friedman is here to help you obtain the compensation you need as you recover from your injuries. You are welcome to contact our offices in Wilmington, Seaford or Newark to make an appointment with an experienced auto accident lawyer today.
Picture this: a driver was traveling along the highway late one evening when their car began to lurch and sputter, so they signaled and changed lanes and chugged to a stop in the breakdown lane on the side of a busy highway. Looking out of his window cautiously before opening his door to go check on what might be going on with the engine, the driver emerged from his car. As he moved the short distance between his door and the front of his vehicle, the driver was struck by an oncoming vehicle that did not see him moving in the darkness.
Dangers of stopping on the shoulder of a highway
The example we used is a more common one than you might think. On an interstate highway with three or four lanes of traffic traveling at upwards of 70 miles per hour, visibility is paramount to staying safe. If another driver cannot see you, it places you in grave danger of getting hit and possibly killed. Once you exit your vehicle your chances of getting hit increase exponentially. According to AAA Foundation research, about 10 percent of pedestrian fatalities occur on the interstate highways system in the U.S.
Safety tips for roadside safety
So how can we make sure that the accident we described never happens to you? Here are a few tips for staying safe and alive in the event that you must stop by the side of a busy highway:
- Do not stop on the shoulder of the highway unless you are facing a dire emergency.
- If you can make it, take the next exit and find help.
- If you must stop because of an emergency, try to pull as far over to the right and off the road as possible.
- Call for roadside assistance before you leave your vehicle.
- Pull over where there is a guard rail if possible and stand on the other side of the guardrail and wait for help to arrive.
- If you have been in an accident with another vehicle, make sure that your passengers get out safely and get as far away from highway traffic as possible.
- Turn on your hazard lights and use flares if you have them.
- Never, ever pull over on the left shoulder of a highway.
Pulling over as far off of the road as possible also helps to keep first responders such as police officers and EMTs safe as police officers frequently lose their lives attending to drivers on the side of busy highways.
We invite you to call us at 302.414.5553 or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation where our knowledgeable auto accident attorneys will answer your questions about your case. From our offices in Newark, Seaford and Wilmington, the auto accident lawyers of Silverman, McDonald & Friedman serve the needs of clients throughout Delaware.
Attorney Jeffrey S. Friedman joined Silverman, McDonald & Friedman in 2001. He graduated from Widener University School of Law, and is admitted to practice law in Delaware and Pennsylvania, and in several Federal Circuit courts. He areas of concentration include auto accident and workers’ compensation cases. Read more about Attorney Friedman here.