Protect yourself when driving alone

Being aware of safety when you drive is always important, no matter if you’re running errands close to home or traveling long distances late at night. Driving safely is key whether you’re alone, with your children, in an unfamiliar area or during the holiday season.

When drivers get preoccupied with other things, awareness of personal safety often loses priority. Driving safely involves more than just your skills as a motorist.

It’s also entails having a full tank of gas so you don’t run out in a desolate spot, a cellphone to call for help without leaving the car, a remote-control door opener so you don’t spend time fumbling with keys and a vehicle in good working order so you’re less likely to break down.

Put your handbag, laptop and other valuables out of sight — either under the seat or in the trunk. Valuables include holiday shopping bags. This can put women in a quandary because they’ve been told not to dawdle in dimly lighted parking lots or garages.

It’s better to toss everything quickly on an empty seat and drive to where the lighting is brighter and the pedestrian traffic thicker, then to stop and load packages out of sight.

If you think you are being followed to your car or see someone loitering near your car, pretend that’s not your car and keep walking past it until you can phone or call for help.

If you are in the car and think you are being followed, do not drive home. Instead, if you know where there’s a police or fire station, drive there. If it is an unfamiliar area, drive into a well-lighted service station.

Keep a flashlight and a “Call Police” sign inside the car so you don’t have to get out to retrieve them from the trunk or cargo section. If you break down on the highway, the American Automobile Assn. recommends you pull over, turn on your flashers and attach a cloth on the door handle, which can be done without leaving the car. Then wait.

If someone other than a uniformed police officer stops, it may be a Good Samaritan — or it may not. Better to say you are waiting for the police or your auto club.

If you are pulled over by an unmarked car, keep doors locked and windows rolled up until you are sure the person approaching your vehicle is law-enforcement personnel. You have the right to request identification whether or not that person is in uniform. If the ID doesn’t match the information on the badge or if you are at all uncomfortable, ask for a marked car and/or a uniformed officer. No legitimate police officer should refuse such a request.

Explain why you want a backup so your reluctance is not mistaken as a refusal, which could prompt an arrest.

Stay inside your vehicle, too, if you are bumped by another car, especially if it contains more than one person. Turn on the flashers and wait for the police. While you are preoccupied with trading insurance information with the driver, the passenger in the “bumper car” could be car-jacking yours.

Remember the name of the most recent exit sign just passed.

That way, if you are stranded and call for help, you’ll know exactly where you are.

If you do get lost, especially at night, it’s safer to drive a few extra miles to a well-lighted, busy area to ask for directions or adjust the navigation system than to stop on a lonely stretch of road and be seen looking at a map.

The most important safety rule of all is to trust your instincts. If you sense danger, stay calm and do whatever makes sense to protect yourself and to get help.