What to do if your car breaks down alone
If your car breaks down while you are alone, steer as far off the road as you can, turn on the hazard lights, and decide where you are safest: usually inside the car with the seatbelt on and doors locked on a busy highway, or behind a barrier well away from traffic. Call roadside assistance, share your location with a friend, and speak to strangers through a cracked window.
Why it matters: Being visible and staying safe matters more than fixing anything.
Steps
- Signal and steer as far right and off the road as you can, ideally to an exit or a parking area.
- Turn on the hazard lights, and at night the interior light.
- On a busy highway, stay in the car with the seatbelt on and doors locked, unless there is smoke or fire.
- If you must get out, exit on the side away from traffic and stand behind a barrier.
- Call roadside assistance, or 911 if you are in a dangerous spot.
- Share your live location with a friend and tell them who is coming.
- If a stranger stops, talk through a slightly opened window and say help is already on the way.
- Check the tow driver's name and company match what roadside assistance told you.
Stop and call a professional if
- you are stopped in a live lane, on a bend or anywhere traffic cannot see you: call 911
- there is smoke or fire: get out on the side away from traffic, move well away and call 911
Common mistakes
- Standing beside or behind the car on a highway shoulder.
- Accepting a ride from a stranger.
- Setting out triangles on a fast road where walking to place them is dangerous.
Teach this to someone
A one page sheet for showing a friend, a teenager or a parent: what to say, what to show, and one question to check it landed.
Teach: What to do if your car breaks down alone
What to say
If your car breaks down while you are alone, steer as far off the road as you can, turn on the hazard lights, and decide where you are safest: usually inside the car with the seatbelt on and doors locked on a busy highway, or behind a barrier well away from traffic. Call roadside assistance, share your location with a friend, and speak to strangers through a cracked window.
What to show
- Signal and steer as far right and off the road as you can, ideally to an exit or a parking area.
- Turn on the hazard lights, and at night the interior light.
- On a busy highway, stay in the car with the seatbelt on and doors locked, unless there is smoke or fire.
- If you must get out, exit on the side away from traffic and stand behind a barrier.
- Call roadside assistance, or 911 if you are in a dangerous spot.
- Share your live location with a friend and tell them who is coming.
- If a stranger stops, talk through a slightly opened window and say help is already on the way.
- Check the tow driver's name and company match what roadside assistance told you.
Where it stops
Stop and call a professional if you are stopped in a live lane, on a bend or anywhere traffic cannot see you: call 911.
Check question
On a busy highway shoulder, where are you usually safest?
Answer: In the car, belted, doors locked. The car protects you from traffic, unless there is smoke or fire.
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Related skills
Sources
- US national highway traffic safety guidance for drivers, 2026. Reviewed September 28, 2026.
Written in our own words from the sources above. It is general information, not advice for your situation; where a professional, your doctor or your lease says something different, follow them.
Last reviewed . First published .