When driving alone

[Surfergal]

(HealthDayNews) -- If you're a woman who often drives alone, you should take extra precautions, advises the American Automobile Association.

Here are some safety tips:

- Drive with your doors locked and windows rolled up to the three-quarter mark.

- Always have at least half a tank of gas in your car.

- Never park next to a van with no windows.

- Park in areas that will be well-lighted when you return to your car.

- In large parking areas, use landmarks to remember where you parked.

- If you're involved in a fender bender at night or in an isolated area, signal the other driver to follow you and drive to the nearest open business or police station.

- If you suspect you're being followed, drive to the nearest open business for help. Don't drive to your home.

- Don't leave your house keys with your car keys when your car is being serviced.

- If you have car trouble, raise your hood or turn on your flashers. Stay inside your vehicle with the doors locked and use your cell phone to call for help.

In truth, these common sense guidelines are good for everyone's automobile adventures, regardless of gender.

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[schsa]

Another good thing is to have a "Call Police" sign in your car in case you are in some awful area where you can't get a good signal on your cell phone.

[Surfergal]

the van one was new to me

[CHERNL]

Never park on the PASSENGER SIDE of a van with no windows is the warning I was given, as people can open the sliding side door and have you in the van before you know what hit you.

[mesue]

Several years back my daughter was coming back from her boyfriends house late at night it was about 2 hr drive, most of it in the country she had gotten in the habit of locking her doors after she lived in a major city, before that she never locked them. Halfway home, a bridge was being built, and they had installed lights since you could only have one lane on the bridge and since it was in a curve and a rather long bridge they had installed the lights. It was a very isolated area. My daughter was listening to her favorite tape and then all of a sudden she felt the car shaking, on each side of her car was a man trying to open her car doors. She ignored the red light and got out of there fast. When she got home she told us what happened, so we notified the police in that area of what had happened. She later told me she had locked the doors but felt silly doing it in this area but did it more out of habit than fear. I shudder to think what could have happened.

[buttrfli]

You know what is scary? We have new police cars that are unmarked. These are regular patrol cars that they started using to catch people who drive aggressivly. The cars are regular cars or turcks or SUV's that have the lights in the grill of the vehicle.

When I saw the news story about this, a police officer was talking about it and stated that if you did not pull over you could get a huge fine....

I have spent most of my adult years listening to law enforcement say that if there is a car with red/blue lights that tries to pull you over and you are unsure if it is a real police officer you should never stop and go somewhere safe.

What are we supposed to do now? If I were driving alone and saw a car behind me with lights on, I'm not so sure I'd pull over.

[mesue]

There was a case not long ago where a young woman was driving down the interstate during daylight hrs and an unmarked car put his lights on to pull her over, she did not and then saw the braiding on the troopers hat in her rearview mirror and pulled over once she realized it was in fact a police officer. The film showed him screaming at her and pulling her out of her car (she was trying to tell him she has her seatbelt on and to let her get out of it) his anger was overwhelming and she was arrested. Its kind of confusing the cops tell you not to pull over for anyone but yet expect you to when they are in unmarked police cars. She was suing over it, I hope she won.
Also I saw on Oprah to not go looking for stuff like registration when you get pulled over to put both hands on the wheel, that it makes them really nervous when you go to looking in the dashboard, purse, and under the seat, they think you might be looking for a gun. They said to wait until the officer is there and asks for it and then to tell them what you are going to do.

[aneisu]

You know what is scary? We have new police cars that are unmarked. These are regular patrol cars that they started using to catch people who drive aggressivly. The cars are regular cars or turcks or SUV's that have the lights in the grill of the vehicle.

When I saw the news story about this, a police officer was talking about it and stated that if you did not pull over you could get a huge fine....

I have spent most of my adult years listening to law enforcement say that if there is a car with red/blue lights that tries to pull you over and you are unsure if it is a real police officer you should never stop and go somewhere safe.

What are we supposed to do now? If I were driving alone and saw a car behind me with lights on, I'm not so sure I'd pull over.

I wouldn't pull over! But if you are in that situation cal the police station and let them know what is going on. If it is a real police officer they can tell him you are going to stop at the next well lit location - or something. They can't fine you for being safe.