1. Get as far off the road as you can
As soon as something feels wrong, signal and move to the right shoulder, or the nearest exit if you can make it. An exit ramp or a parking lot is much safer than a freeway shoulder. Avoid stopping on a curve or just over a hill, where other drivers can't see you.
2. Make yourself visible
Turn on your hazard lights right away. At night, leave your parking lights on too. If you carry reflective triangles and can place them without walking into traffic, put them well behind the car.
3. Stay in the car, buckled in
On a busy freeway, the safest place is usually inside your car with your seatbelt on. Standing next to the car or walking along the shoulder puts you inches from traffic. Only get out if the car is on fire or smoking, and then move well away from the road, behind a guardrail if there is one.
4. Call 911 if you're in danger
If your car is blocking a lane, you're stopped in a dangerous spot, or anyone is hurt, call 911 first. Police can protect the scene while help is on the way.
5. Call for a tow and share the right details
Call PS Towing & Recovery at (414) 254-1468. To get help to you faster, tell dispatch:
- The freeway and direction, for example "I-94 westbound"
- The last exit you passed or the next one ahead, or a mile marker
- Your vehicle's year, make, model and color
- What happened: flat tire, no power, overheating, out of gas, accident
- Where you want the car taken
Not sure where you are? Open your phone's map app. It shows your location on the freeway and the nearest exits, and you can share that location by text if dispatch asks.
6. Know the Move Over law
Wisconsin's Move Over law requires drivers to move over a lane, or slow down if they can't, when passing stopped emergency vehicles and tow trucks with their lights flashing. It protects you and the tow operator while your car is loaded.
7. Check traffic before you go
Once you're moving again, the state's 511 Wisconsin site and app show crashes, construction and closures so you can plan around them.