First aid, emergency procedures and breakdown handling with a trailer
Make the scene safe first
- Stop as far right as possible, hazard lights on, engine off, parking brake on, wheels chocked - a trailer can roll.
- High-visibility vest before stepping out. Place the warning triangle at least 50 m behind the combination on a motorway or expressway, and behind the trailer rather than the car.
- Passengers wait behind the barrier, uphill of the vehicle on a slope.
- Call 112 for emergency services; Croatian motoring club HAK roadside assistance is on 1987.
First aid
- Check response and breathing, call 112 and follow the dispatcher.
- Severe bleeding: firm direct pressure; do not pull off soaked dressings.
- Unresponsive but breathing: recovery position.
- Not breathing: chest compressions 100–120 per minute, 5–6 cm deep, until help arrives; send for the nearest AED.
- Do not remove a motorcyclist's helmet unless breathing is obstructed.
Breakdown with a trailer
- Uncouple only on firm, level ground: lower the jockey wheel, chock the trailer, then release the breakaway cable last.
- Never work under a trailer held only by a jack.
Worked example
A trailer tyre fails at 80 km/h on the motorway. Grip the wheel, ease off the accelerator, indicate right and coast onto the hard shoulder without hard braking - the trailer would push you sideways. Stop, vest on, triangle 50 m behind the trailer, passengers behind the barrier, then call 1987.
Traps that cost marks
Placing the triangle behind the car instead of the trailer; standing between car and trailer on the carriageway; uncoupling on a slope.