By Fred Ost / Published on September 27th, 2006 / Automotive
Many a night during my years of driving a tow truck I pulled up to a vehicle sitting in the lane on a highway with a flat tire while cars braked and skidded behind it to avoid hitting this obstacle, and what do you think I heard as the excuse for sitting there in the lane risking life and limb? "I did not want to ruin my tire, or wheel." Let me be the first to tell you, if you don't think your life, or the life of other motorists on the road is worth more than the tire or wheel on your car, you should be on a psychiatrists couch not behind the wheel. I do not care if you have stock wheels or a phat set of spinners, your life is worth enough to damage those wheels or tires to get yourself to a point of safety and out of the way of traffic. At which point you can wait for assistance or take the time to make repairs on your own.

The only time I was ever more angry than the above situation is when I pulled up at a similar scene only to find a police car sitting behind that same car with the flat tire, blocking traffic and causing a potential safety hazard. As far as I'm concerned that is two people who do not know the value of safety. The most important thing to remember in a time like that you want yourself and the motorists around you to make it home at the end of the day. The wheels and tires can always be replaced.

When you get a flat tire, no matter what type of vehicle you are driving the most important thing to remember is to turn on your hazard lights, gradually take your foot off the gas allowing the vehicle to gradually decelerate, and get off the roadway, out of the lanes of travel as quickly and safely as possible. When you do this you not only get yourself to a point of safety where you can calmly survey the situation and choose the best course of action, you also make the roadway safer for everyone else.

No matter what your financial situation may be, getting killed because you did not want to ruin a wheel or tire is not going to pay any of your bills or save you any money. Everything material in life can be replaced, your life, or the life of the person who slammed into your car because they were going too fast and did not have time to stop, can not.

Take the time to get to safety and you have done something good for yourself and for all the other motorists on the road.

About the Author
Fred Ost is a writer, web designer and spiring indie movie maker. He is a founder of, and staff writer at the free independent artits community at http://www.scptv.net.
He also offers personal safety products through http://www.pepperspraybargains.com.
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