Cars and Power Lines
If your car comes in contact with a power line, a state of panic may set in. Try to stay calm and follow these tips:
- You should remain inside your vehicle. If you are in your car, you are not part of electricity’s path, which always looks for the shortest way to the ground. Honk your horn to alert passersby.
- If someone stops to help, roll down the window and warn them not to touch the car or the power line. Ask them to phone 911 and contact the local electric utility immediately.
- Wait in your car until qualified electrical workers turn the power off and tell you it’s safe to leave the car.
- If you have to leave the car because of fire or other danger, open the door and jump away from the vehicle so no part of your body touches the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Make sure to jump with both feet together so that your feet land on the ground at the same time.
- After you land with both feet together, shuffle away, keeping both feet in contact with the ground constantly.
- Do not try to help someone from the vehicle. If you do, you may become a path for electricity and be injured or killed.
Source: National Weather Service
