If An Accident Occurs - Fiat 2003 Palio Owner's Manual

IF AN ACCIDENT
OCCURS
– It is important to keep calm.
– If you are not directly involved in
the accident, stop at least ten metres
away from the accident.
– If you are on a motorway, stop
without obstructing the emergency
lane with your car.
– Turn off the engine and turn on the
hazard lights.
– At night, illuminate the scene of the
accident with your headlights.
– Act carefully, you must not risk be-
ing run over.
– If the doors are blocked, do not at-
tempt to smash the windscreen to get
out of the car. It is made of layered
glass and is very hard. Side and rear
windows are much more easily bro-
ken.
– Mark the accident by putting the
red triangle at the regulatory distance
from the car where it can be clearly
seen.
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– Call for rescue making the infor-
mation you give as accurate as you
can. On the motorway use the special
column-mounted emergency phones.
– In pile-ups on the motorway, par-
ticularly when the visibility is bad,
there is a high risk of other vehicles
running into those already stopped.
Get out of the car immediately and
take refuge behind the guard-rail.
– Remove the ignition keys from the
vehicles involved.
– If you can smell petrol or other
chemicals, do not smoke and make
sure all cigarettes are extinguished.
– Use a fire extinguisher, blanket
sand or earth to put out fires, how-
ever small they may be. Never use wa-
ter
IF ANYONE IS INJURED
– Never leave the injured person
alone. The obligation to provide as-
sistance exists even for those not di-
rectly involved in the accident.
– Do not congregate around the in-
jured person.
– Reassure the injured person that
help is on its way and will arrive soon.
Stay close by to calm him/her down in
case of panic.
– Unfasten or cut seat belts holding
injured parties.
– Do not give an injured person any-
thing to drink.
– Do not move an injured person un-
less the following situation arise.
– Pull out the injured person from
the car only if there is a risk of it catch-
ing fire, sinking in water or is likely to
fall over a cliff or etc. Do not pull
his/her arms or legs, do not bend the
head and, as far as possible, keep the
body horizontal.