HOUSTON – Your car has just broken down on the highway. Other cars are whizzing by, but you are just stuck there. Do you have any idea how much danger you could be in?
The fact is, traffic safety experts say if you make the wrong move it could be the difference between life and death.
What's the worst thing you can do?
"One of the worst things you can do is leave your vehicle, step out of your vehicle, because you may not see oncoming traffic," said Sarah Schimmer of AAA Texas.
"If a car is coming and it is just 3 or 4 feet off either way, then you've got a 3,000- or 4,000-pound vehicle headed right at you at 60, 70, 80 mph and there's the crash right there, you are not going to win that one," said Department of Public Safety Trooper Richard Standifer.
It happens a lot more than you would think: drivers stepping out of their cars to wait for help or to change a flat tire and along comes a car that strikes them.
In fact, according to the AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety, Texas led the nation with 1,795 pedestrians killed on our highways from 1993 to 2012. The report said 80 percent were men and the majority were killed at night.
In an effort to keep you safe, Channel 2 Investigates has teamed up with Schimmer to show you four key steps to staying alive after a breakdown with your car.
Step One: Get off the road, don't get out of the car
"The first thing we're going to do is get safely off the highway and most of the time that means to steer as far right as you can get onto the shoulder, as far as possible from traffic," Schimmer said.
Step Two: Alert approaching traffic you have a problem
"We're going to immediately put on our hazard lights, so that oncoming motorists know we're in a disabled vehicle and we are going to keep our seat belts secured and fastened for added protection," Schimmer said.
Step Three: Find your location and get help
"We want to look out the window and assess our location, looking for landmarks, looking for street signs, maybe also look around the vehicle, at warning lights on the dash to try and see what has happened to your vehicle, and then we are going to call for assistance," Schimmer said.
The next step should only be taken if you are on a quiet road with very little traffic. If you are on a busy highway, forget this next step.
Step Four: Mark the road behind your car
Again, experts said don't try this on a busy road, but if it is on a side road with very little traffic, it's a good idea to put a couple of flares behind your vehicle to alert drivers coming your way.
Place one flare 20 feet behind your car and then another flare another 20 feet behind that to light up the roadway and alert drivers that you are in trouble.
You can accomplish the same thing by placing a red, triangle shaped warning sign behind your car, about 10 to 20 feet back.
You can get more safety information from AAA Texas by clicking here.