Five Things You Should Never Do During a Car Emergency

At one time or another, we will all face an automotive emergency that occurs outside the easy reach of immediate assistance or a simple, quick call to AAA. How readily we get out of the jam as well as prevent a bad situation from getting worse usually depends on our ability to keep ourselves calm, cool, and collected.

What could be worse than a car that won't go? Too many things, including a health emergency or true life crisis that arises out of the situation we're in and increasing the damage to our expensive autos because we do something dumb that we wouldn't do normally.

With this in mind, consider these top five things you should always avoid doing when you're stuck in or around your stranded car, truck or SUV:

1. Leave small children, pets, and vulnerable others alone in the vehicle.

Every year, kids, sick adults, and pets die unnecessarily because the driver - usually in an act of desperation - decides to leave them alone in a stranded vehicle while they go to get help. Too often, this means keeping windows rolled up which can cause at least two different crises: on a hot day, this can drive up the cabin temperature to the point where living things inside will find it hard to breathe or maintain proper body temperature; at a cooler time, where the engine is left running, dangerous gases can build up in the cabin, rendering its occupants unconscious and sometimes bringing on death.

Also, small children have been known to do both miraculous and really stupid things when left unattended in a vehicle. Besides killing the battery by playing the radio or sending a vehicle into a heat emergency by running the air conditioning full blast, they may be able to maneuver even a stranded car onto a roadway and into the path of oncoming traffic.

2. Get stranded without an emergency kit.

A cell phone or onboard communications system like OnStar can be a lifesaver in such situations. But there is more you should have on hand, including a flashlight, water you can drink, roadside flares or emergency lighting to alert drivers to your position, a jacket and blanket against the cold, and a small amount of long-lasting food in case you're stuck for a long period of time.

3. Use an auto jack without extreme care.

Automotive jacks are great when they are used properly. But try to employ them on an uneven surface, without following instructions, when you're not fully off the road, or anyone gets beneath the vehicle while it's jacked up is a recipe for disaster that can severely injure you or others and permanently damage your auto.

4. Open your radiator pressure cap without care.

A common cause of injuries - including severe burns as well as hand and facial fractures - occurs when we try to take off the pressure-release cap on a hot automotive radiator without following instructions. Fluid can spray out and the cap, under severe pressure, can act like a champagne bottle cork (only heavier and more dangerous) and spring forward to hurt you. A friend of mine still suffers pain as well as partial blindness 18 years after an errant cap fractured her eye socket

5. Try to change a tire in traffic.

A number of people are killed each year because they try to change a tire without their vehicle fully off the road when they get sideswiped by an oncoming car. Get off the road or get professional assistance to get the vehicle somewhere else to change the tire.