Incidents & Emergencies: Breakdowns & First Aid

What does the Incidents, Accidents and Emergencies topic cover?

This topic tests what you do when something goes wrong: breaking down on ordinary roads and motorways, using warning triangles and hazard lights, your legal duties after a collision, keeping a crash scene safe, and basic first aid. Most answers come from Highway Code rules 275 to 287, rule 116 and Annex 7.

Note the numbering. In the current Highway Code, rule 275 defines a place of relative safety and rule 276 covers general breakdown advice, including the warning triangle. Older revision material that quotes “rule 274” for triangles is out of date.

What should you do if your car breaks down on an ordinary road?

Get your vehicle off the road if you can, and warn other traffic. Rule 276 says use hazard warning lights if your vehicle is causing an obstruction, and put a warning triangle at least 45 metres (147 feet) behind it on the same side of the road. Never use a triangle on a motorway.

Rule 276 also says:

• wear light-coloured or fluorescent clothing in daylight and reflective clothing at night or in poor visibility
• keep your sidelights on if it is dark or visibility is poor
• do not let anyone stand between your vehicle and oncoming traffic, or where they would hide your lights at night.

Rule 275 adds that the safest place to stop is somewhere designed for parking, and that you and your passengers should keep well away from the vehicle and moving traffic where possible.

What should you do if you break down on a motorway?

Leave at the next exit or pull into a service area if you can. If not, rule 277 says go left: move into the left lane and stop in an emergency area or on the hard shoulder, as far left as possible. Then leave by the side away from traffic and wait behind a safety barrier if there is one.

If you cannot reach the left lane or a place of relative safety, and cannot get out and away safely, stay in your vehicle with seat belts and hazard lights on, and call 999 immediately to ask for the police. Otherwise, use the free emergency telephone or contact a breakdown service, and do not attempt repairs or place a warning triangle.

To help responders find you, press your vehicle’s SOS button if it has one, use a phone mapping app, or quote the numbers on marker posts or driver location signs. Our Motorway Rules guide covers rejoining the carriageway.

What must you do after a collision?

If a collision causes damage or injury to any other person, vehicle, animal or property, you must stop. Rule 286 says give your name and address, the vehicle owner’s name and address and the registration number to anyone with reasonable grounds to ask. If you cannot, report it to the police as soon as reasonably practicable, and within 24 hours.

If someone is injured and you do not produce your insurance certificate at the scene, rule 287 says you must report to the police within 24 hours and produce the certificate within seven days. GOV.UK adds that you must also tell your insurer, even if you do not plan to claim.

At the scene, rule 283 tells you to use hazard lights, ask drivers to switch off their engines and stop smoking, call 999 with full location and casualty details, and move uninjured people to a place of relative safety. Do not move injured people from their vehicles unless they are in immediate danger.

If a vehicle carrying dangerous goods is involved, rule 285 says keep well away and do not use a mobile phone close to a vehicle carrying flammable loads. Rule 284 explains that these vehicles display plain orange reflective plates or, on tankers, hazard warning plates.

How do you give first aid at the scene of a crash?

Follow DR ABC from Annex 7: check for Danger, look for a Response, open the Airway, check Breathing, then deal with Circulation by controlling bleeding. Get someone to call 999 or 112 early, keep casualties warm and reassured, and do not give them anything to eat or drink.

Key Annex 7 details:

• Unconscious and breathing: place them in the recovery position until help arrives.
• Not breathing: start CPR. Press down hard and fast in the centre of the chest, around 5 to 6 centimetres, about twice a second.
• Bleeding: apply firm pressure over the wound if nothing is embedded, then fasten a pad with a bandage. If something is embedded, do not remove it; build up padding on either side.
• Burns: cool with clean, cool water for at least 20 minutes and cover with cling film if available. Do not remove anything sticking to the burn.

What mistakes do learners make on incidents questions?

Many wrong answers here are instinctive reactions that feel helpful but create a second emergency. Opening a smoking bonnet, pulling off a rider’s helmet, retrieving a dropped load or waiting beside your car on the hard shoulder all put people in more danger. The Highway Code consistently puts personal safety first.

• Opening the bonnet on a fire. Annex 6 says this makes the fire flare.
• Removing a motorcyclist’s helmet by default. Only if it is essential.
• Collecting debris on a motorway. Rule 280 says call 999 instead.
• Using a triangle on the hard shoulder. Never on a motorway.
• Confusing 24 hours and seven days. Report within 24 hours; produce insurance within seven days.
• Using hazard lights while driving slowly. Only briefly, on motorways or unrestricted dual carriageways, to warn of a hazard ahead.

Where should you go next?

Test yourself with the Incidents, Accidents and Emergencies practice test, then revise the Motorway Rules practice test and Safety and Your Vehicle. When the facts feel solid, try a full mock theory test under timed conditions or explore all theory test topics.