Incapacity of Driver

While I am talking about emergencies let me take a minute and pose a most serious question—one that few of us ever stop to analyze.

Here is the situation: you are driving down the Interstate, cruising along at 60+ mph, when you suddenly have a heart attack or a seizure where you black out. Now what? Does your co-pilot/navigator have any idea of what to do before your rig careens off the road and rolls over in the ditch?

Now is the time to think about that—not when the situation arises!

My companion, co-pilot, and navigator (a most wonderful lady) and I have talked about this, have come up with a plan, and occasionally even practice it (but with advance warning).

Here is our approach:  When I keel over or black out, my lady quickly gets out of her seat and moves beside the driver's seat.

She does NOT turn off the ignition switch (because then she would have no steering and no braking power).

She first grabs the steering wheel and makes sure that the coach is still going down the center of the lane (as much as she can). The intent is to keep the coach out of the ditch on the side of the road.

The she reaches out with her foot and taps the brake pedal (to turn off the cruise control), and then applies more pressure to the brake pedal while continuing to steer the coach down the road. The idea is to stop the coach before it careens off the road. Never mind that the coach is in the middle of the road—get it safely stopped.

Then turn off the engine and turn on the hazard flasher lights.

The rest of the scenario can take many different turns, but the coach is still on the road and undamaged, and the co-pilot can then take the next steps to get proper medical attention for the driver.

Think about it folks, would you have instinctively known what to do, or watched in horror as the coach careened off the road?

Talk your individual situation over with your traveling partner and decide what is best for you. But, please, do think this scenario through, and come up with a course of action that might just save two lives, as well as your coach.