Planning
Before taking a long car journey here are the precautions I take:
1 Check oil and tyres. (Or get the garage to do so for you.)
2 Fill the car with petrol.
3 Check all suitcases will fill in the boot of the car (what the Americans call the t r u n k of the car; they also refer to the bonnet as the hood).
Decide if you will have a show nothing policy. One of my friends gave me a lift from London to a writers' holiday. She insisted that we had nothing on display on the car. Not a coat or cap, not a map nor a cup. Not a bottle of water. Not a coin or a pair of sunglasses. She wanted a completely empty car so that any potential thief would look at it and think, nothing there. Not worthwhile breaking in.
If we needed anything from the boot of the car for a food and toilet stop, we did not open the car boot in the car park of the motorway station before leaving the car. We took out any food or camera or valuable and put it in our handbag or tote bag and took it with us.
After leaving the motorway station we drove a short distance before stopping to put any camera or laptop or jewellery or other valuables back in the suitcase at the back of the car in the boot.
At a motorway stop we never left the car unattended. If one of us got out to pay for petrol, or to go to the toilet, the other person stayed in the car with the doors locked. We took sandwiches and did not stop on the journey.
Accident
On my way to Wales one year my car was hit by another and propelled into the fast lane where it hit the barrier, scattered bits over the motorway and spun around and stopped. The car which hit me was stationary in the slow lane behind me.
When my car was towed away to a garage, I had to continue my journey with only what I could carry in my wheeled suitcase. All the other paraphernalia, the car blanket, maps (which were recovered later) had to be left behind.
As a result I am now much more aware that any clutter in the car could be lost or left behind on the way.
Vital Numbers
I also put not my mobile phone the emergency numbers of my car insurers (the house contents insurers if my valuables are covered by my house contents policy instead), as well as the destination address and phone number and postcode, and the phone numbers of the organisers of a conference or event.
Friends of mine have told me about their accidents and how it affected them.
Car Fire
One friend, A, smelled burning and felt heat under her feet. She pulled into the hard shoulder. The car started filling with smoke so she told the three children to get out. Her bag was by her feet with her phone in it.
Her children were not wearing shoes. One child left behind his teddy and demanded she stop to pick it up. (That was a risk!)
She called the rescue services. They would only take her to the nearest motorway station because her insurance did not cover an engine fire. (Compare policies.) She was able to phone relatives two hours away to collect the family after a long wait.
Tyre Blow-out
Other friends had an accident in which a front tyre blew out and the car veered across the motorway lanes and hit another car in the opposite direction two other cars were write-offs as well as their own. Fortunately when he was breathalysed the driver had not had anything to drink. Also the car tyres had recently been changed.
In addition, when the police came to their house later and interviewed the husband and wife separately, she was able to say when he had had his eyes tested recently, (because she was careful to keep records because of glaucoma in her husband's family).
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Before taking a long car journey here are the precautions I take:
1 Check oil and tyres. (Or get the garage to do so for you.)
2 Fill the car with petrol.
3 Check all suitcases will fill in the boot of the car (what the Americans call the t r u n k of the car; they also refer to the bonnet as the hood).
Decide if you will have a show nothing policy. One of my friends gave me a lift from London to a writers' holiday. She insisted that we had nothing on display on the car. Not a coat or cap, not a map nor a cup. Not a bottle of water. Not a coin or a pair of sunglasses. She wanted a completely empty car so that any potential thief would look at it and think, nothing there. Not worthwhile breaking in.
If we needed anything from the boot of the car for a food and toilet stop, we did not open the car boot in the car park of the motorway station before leaving the car. We took out any food or camera or valuable and put it in our handbag or tote bag and took it with us.
After leaving the motorway station we drove a short distance before stopping to put any camera or laptop or jewellery or other valuables back in the suitcase at the back of the car in the boot.
At a motorway stop we never left the car unattended. If one of us got out to pay for petrol, or to go to the toilet, the other person stayed in the car with the doors locked. We took sandwiches and did not stop on the journey.
Accident
On my way to Wales one year my car was hit by another and propelled into the fast lane where it hit the barrier, scattered bits over the motorway and spun around and stopped. The car which hit me was stationary in the slow lane behind me.
When my car was towed away to a garage, I had to continue my journey with only what I could carry in my wheeled suitcase. All the other paraphernalia, the car blanket, maps (which were recovered later) had to be left behind.
As a result I am now much more aware that any clutter in the car could be lost or left behind on the way.
Vital Numbers
I also put not my mobile phone the emergency numbers of my car insurers (the house contents insurers if my valuables are covered by my house contents policy instead), as well as the destination address and phone number and postcode, and the phone numbers of the organisers of a conference or event.
Friends of mine have told me about their accidents and how it affected them.
Car Fire
One friend, A, smelled burning and felt heat under her feet. She pulled into the hard shoulder. The car started filling with smoke so she told the three children to get out. Her bag was by her feet with her phone in it.
Her children were not wearing shoes. One child left behind his teddy and demanded she stop to pick it up. (That was a risk!)
She called the rescue services. They would only take her to the nearest motorway station because her insurance did not cover an engine fire. (Compare policies.) She was able to phone relatives two hours away to collect the family after a long wait.
Tyre Blow-out
Other friends had an accident in which a front tyre blew out and the car veered across the motorway lanes and hit another car in the opposite direction two other cars were write-offs as well as their own. Fortunately when he was breathalysed the driver had not had anything to drink. Also the car tyres had recently been changed.
In addition, when the police came to their house later and interviewed the husband and wife separately, she was able to say when he had had his eyes tested recently, (because she was careful to keep records because of glaucoma in her husband's family).
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
