🚙 On the road: what to do, step by step
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A breakdown, an accident or a snowfall can leave you stuck in your car for hours. The most dangerous thing is getting out on a highway without warning other drivers.
Open the guide in the app (works offline)Step by step
| When you stop | Pull over onto the shoulder as far as you can and turn on your hazard lights. In Spain, switch on the V-16 beacon and put it on the roof without getting out of the car. |
|---|---|
| Before getting out | Put on your reflective vest inside the car, get out on the side away from traffic and wait behind the guardrail, not next to the car. |
| If someone is injured | Protect (warn traffic and turn off the engine), call your local emergency number (112 in Europe, 911 in North America) giving the road, the mile or kilometer marker and the direction, and help. Don't move injured people unless they're in immediate danger, and don't take a motorcyclist's helmet off. |
| If you get stranded | Stay in the car: it's your shelter. Run the engine for about 10 minutes every hour to keep warm, with the exhaust pipe clear and a window slightly open. |
Before
- Always keep in the car: a beacon or warning triangles as required in your country, a reflective vest, water, a blanket, a flashlight, a phone charger, some food and a window breaker within reach.
- In winter add snow chains or snow socks, gloves, a small shovel and warm clothes, and don't set out when there's a snow warning unless you really have to.
- Keep the tank above half: in a snow jam or an evacuation, fuel means heat and time.
- Before a long trip, check the forecast and tell someone your route and your arrival time.
During
- If water covers the road, don't cross: turn around. If water gets into the car, unbuckle your seatbelt, lower or break the window and get out without waiting.
- In fog or smoke, slow down, turn on your fog lights and don't stop in the lane.
- Stuck in snow: don't go out walking in a blizzard, do gentle exercises to keep warm and tie something brightly colored to the antenna so you can be seen.
- Never leave anyone, or an animal, inside a car in the sun.
After
- Take photos and fill in an accident report form if another vehicle is involved.
- Replace whatever you've used from the car kit when you get home.
What you need for this emergency
- help flash IoT+, connected V-16 beacon
- 4 certified reflective vests
- resqme, window breaker and seatbelt cutter
- Goodyear, snow socks
Figures and sources
- Warning signals for your car in Spain: Since January 1, 2026, the connected V-16 beacon replaces warning triangles in Spain. When getting out of the car on intercity roads, wear a reflective vest (DGT (Spanish traffic authority) · Royal Decree 159/2021)
- Stranded in the car by snow: Stay in the car; run the engine about 10 minutes every hour, with the exhaust pipe clear and a window slightly open (National Weather Service and Ready.gov (US))
- Moving water: 15 cm (6 in) knocks over an adult; 30 cm (1 ft) sweeps away a small car; 45–60 cm (1.5–2 ft), an SUV (National Weather Service (US))