I've just returned from a 2-day road trip to Maine, we had had to pick up a customer's car and drag it back to New York for some serious massaging. The weather wasn't great, and the lobster wasn't much better. It seems 99% of the seafood shacks along HWY 1 close at the end of the summer vacation season. Thankfully, Bob's Clam Shack is open year round, so we stopped once on the way up and again on the way down for a basket of fried. It was a rainy, cool drive. We were cruising down 495 when out of nowhere appeared a stranded motorist parked on the side of the road. It was a flat tire. The car was black, the air was foggy, and I had to make a less-than-comfortable swerve to avoid drenching the poor guy with funky road water, or worse if he suddenly leaned outward. My point is this: I know the last thing you may be thinking about as you limp to the emergency lane is the convenience of other drivers, but it only takes one idiot to make your day that much worse. If you're pulling over to change a tire, steer as far into the emergency lane as possible, and use your emergency flashers so other drivers can give you a wide berth. It's well worth the effort.

A Quick Thought on Safety originally appeared on About.com Auto Repair on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 23:12:01.

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