Here are two tips people should follow if their car breaks down on a country road.

They should ring a provider of emergency towing services

In this set of circumstances, a person should not choose a company that offers standard towing services, as a business like this might take many hours or even a full day to send one of their tow truck drivers to the person's location. Instead, they should use the services of a company that markets itself as a provider of emergency towing services. A business like this should be able to get a tow truck to the person's location in a very short period of time.

The reason for this is that a person in this situation will be more vulnerable than someone whose vehicle broke down on, for example, the main street of a town or on a busy, well-lit motorway. If a person is standing on a country road for many hours whilst waiting for a tow truck to pick up them and their car, and cannot seek shelter or help from anyone nearby, the chances of them being harmed as a result of exposure to the heat or the cold, or encountering a wild animal that could injure them, will be higher than if their car broke down elsewhere. Additionally, because country roads can be narrow, with lots of twists and turns, a broken-down car on this type of road could take up far too much road space and so could easily be hit by another driver. In short, the person in this situation must get themselves out of it as quickly as possible, and the most effective way for them to do this would be to contact a provider of emergency towing services.

They should assess their environment to see if they should stay in the vehicle or get out of it

In this situation, the person should also assess their environment before determining whether it would be safest for them to stay in the vehicle or to get out of it and wait nearby until the emergency tow truck shows up. In general, the safety advice given to people whose vehicles have broken down is to get out of their vehicle and wait nearby, away from the road that they've broken down on. However, this might not necessarily be the right thing to do when a person has broken down on a country road.

If for example, they've broken down in an area where they know there is dangerous wildlife, then staying inside their locked vehicle, with the windows rolled up, might be the best thing to do until the tow truck reaches them. Likewise, if the country road is surrounded by deep ditches and they cannot, therefore, wait for the tow truck whilst standing by the side of the road, then they might be safer if they stayed in their vehicle. In either of these scenarios, the person should also warn the towing company about the presence of wildlife or ditches so that their tow truck driver is aware of the issue and can then take safety precautions when they pick up the vehicle and the driver.

Call an emergency towing company for more information.