Emergency Response and Accident Handling
Emergency items are marked on sequence: what you do first, whom you protect first, and which situations forbid moving the vehicle. Answer with the safest legal order, not the most helpful-sounding gesture.
At the scene
- Stop, switch on the hazard lights, switch off the engine.
- Set the warning triangle 50–100 m behind the car on ordinary roads, about 150 m on an expressway.
- Move people behind the barrier or off the carriageway; never stand between the vehicles.
- Call 122 for police, 120 for an ambulance, 119 for fire, giving location, injuries, vehicles and hazards.
On an expressway the formula is: car to the shoulder, people out, call police. Staying inside the car in a live lane is both a common distractor and a common cause of death.
When the vehicle must not be moved
Injury or death; no plate or no insurance mark; a driver suspected of drinking or without a licence; dangerous goods on board. In every other case, photograph the scene from several angles and clear the road.
Vehicle emergencies
- Blowout: grip the wheel with both hands, ease off the accelerator, let the car slow, brake gently, pull over. Do not slam the brakes or wrench the wheel - a front blowout pulls hard to that side.
- Brake failure: change down for engine braking, apply the parking brake gradually and in stages, warn with horn and hazard lights, and rub against a kerb as a last resort.
- Steering failure: slow down at once, hazard lights on, horn to warn, look for open space to stop.
- Fire: stop, engine off, battery isolated; spray the extinguisher through a gap at the bonnet edge rather than opening it fully.
- Into water: open the door or lower the window before the car fills; if already submerged, wait until the water inside nears the level outside, then open the door, or break a side window at a corner.
Casualties
Check response and breathing, call for help, begin CPR if breathing has stopped, and do not move a suspected spinal injury unless fire or traffic forces it.
Worked example
A front tyre bursts at 100 km/h on an expressway. Correct order: hold the wheel straight, ease off the accelerator, let speed fall, brake gently once stable, indicate right, reach the shoulder, hazard lights on, triangle 150 m back, occupants behind the barrier, call 122. Braking hard at the instant of the burst is wrong, and it is usually the first option listed.
Traps
- Setting the triangle too close, especially on an expressway.
- Pulling an injured person out of the car first.
- Opening a burning bonnet fully.