Stuck in the Car During a Snowstorm: How to Save Your Heroine's Life

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(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Your heroine was out of there! She jumped into her car and drove at break-neck speed, racing away from the troubles that you wrote into her plot line. She couldn't see the distant city lights yet as she flew down the lonely dark highway, but surely she was getting closer to civilization and some sanity - or maybe just a stiff drink.


Not so fast, silly heroine! Your author has written you an empty gas tank. Looks like you're stuck in sub-freezing temperatures by the side of the road. Now what?

Maybe she isn't even out there alone and far from civilization? Here's a link to a story where a family with a baby is stranded on a highway for 26 hours along with everyone else. No rescuers coming to the rescue. Did your character come prepared?
LINK (1:21)

Photo credit: Wikipedia)

YIPES! Maybe this is what happened to your character:
Video Quick Link - (1:35) black ice
Video Quick Study (0:56) slush

... or maybe she's a kick-ass driver?
Video Quick Study (6:20) - Driving well on ice - besides the bloke has a great English accent (always a

                                           bonus!)
Video Quick Study (4:14) Acceleration
Video Quick Study (1:14) Did you put your heroine into a four-wheel drive?

Here are some ideas on how to save your heroine and make her look like she knows how to take charge of a bad situation. Or reverse if you feel like making her life really miserable.

RULE #1 Do NOT leave the car!

Best case:
* She told someone when she left, the route, and when she should get to her destination.
* Heroine should be aware of where she is travelling so she can give an exact location to rescue workers.

* Arrive safely and let everyone know she made it. Whew!

But then she got stuck in a snowbank?
* Stay with the car
* Call for help, giving location
* Start car periodically to warm it up and keep the battery from draining.
   (so the horn will work to signal for help)
* Make SURE that the tailpipe is free of obstruction (like snow drift)
   you don't want your heroine to asphyxiate on carbon monoxide. Or maybe you do...
* Have your character weigh the pros and cons of getting out of the car
   `Drop in core temperature when exposed to wind and snow
   `Damp clothes that wick heat away from the body and no longer provide
    insulation and warmth.
   `Are there things in her trunk that might be helpful? That could save her from
    discomfort, if not save her life?

Video Quick Study (5:27) family go stuck overnight.

Which leads us to her EDC (Every Day Carry)

How smart and prepared is your heroine?




This is an example EDC winter kit that she might have in the back of the car along with water bottles.
All of these items tuck easily into the small plastic bucket with room for other things your heroine might want.
This kit contains:
* Food for three days (fiber bars, jerky, raisins, peanut butter, candy)
* An in-car toilet kit. Okay guys, roll your eyes, but "going" out in sub-freezing weather for ladies in winter
   clothing would take a yoga master. Also, every time she opens the door, she lets out any warmth she's built
   up in the car, and exposes way too much of herself to the elements - the cold and the wet. So instead, she
   lines the white plastic bucket with a draw-string bag, uses that with the TP, then closes the top firmly.
   Tah dah!
* A hand crank radio/flashlight (ours also has a phone charger - though this is only helpful if your heroine is
   travelling where there is a phone signal.) This will:
` Keep the car battery from going low
` Give her needed information on weather conditions
` Help keep up her morale and help her pass the time
` Have her keep her circulation moving by doing this light exercise without breaking a sweat and
   moistening her clothes.
* Glow light
* Hat
* Emergency blanket - which can be tented over the in-car heater to help reflect
   even more heat onto the heroine and help keep her toasty warm.
* Lighter
* Knife
* Extra trash bag (to collect snow if she forgot her water bottles or runs out of water)
* Hand warmers
* In-car heater: unused paint can, small Crisco, piece of paper

(NOTE: this heater with one wick raised the ambient car temperature to 68F while the exterior temperatures were dropping. Two wicks would increase the amount of heat output but increase smoke and fire hazard.)

Other things that she should/could have on hand:

* Signal flares and other signalling devices. She can use the mirrors in her car, and beep the horn in a
   sequence of three. REMEMBER any grouping of three - light flashes, sound blasts, etc. - are an
   international distress signal. Call AUTHORITIES immediately to get them involved in the situation.
   If your character is running into an unknown situation- she should do so with caution.
   It could be a home-invasion/kidnapping scenario.
* Extra gloves
* Sub-zero sleeping bag
* A folding shovel
* Jumper cables, windshield scrapers, tire re-inflation cans and other normal car EDC items

Consumer Reports talks your heroine through pre-winter preparation. If she didn't do it, well there you have your plot twist! Video Quick Study (11:00)

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here's hoping both you and your character stay safe. 

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Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.

Vehicle Crash Forensics: Car Accident Information for Writers

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. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My daughter and I were driving through a toll when the driver ahead of us hit the column, backed up, and swerved on down the road.

My daughter is a type 1 diabetic, and my mind went instantly to the idea that the other driver wasn't perceiving properly; they were having a medical emergency. This happens for diabetics when their cognition and eyesight is suddenly impaired, and they cannot think their way out of the situation.

This could be a plotting device where a very innocent person could be having a very bad medical day and do some very heinous things that would not only twist a plot but leave the heroine psychologically damaged. A new medication, a recent stomach bug that dropped her blood sugar levels, so many ways to get a driver into trouble - maybe all of those sleepless nights that you've written into her plot line are coming back to haunt your heroine. Exhaustion has a similar effect on driving ability as alcohol.

The good news is that traffic fatalities are statistically down because of:

* Redesigned cars
* Seat belt and child seat use
* Decrease in driving under the influence
* Legislation such as increased driving ages and incremental drivers licenses

Common Causes of traffic accidents include:

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Right of way mistakes
* Failure to yield
* Excessive speed
* Following too close
* Disregarding traffic signals
* Driving styles
   - texting
   - talking on the phone
   - eating
   - doing makeup



Equipment failure is NOT a significant cause of car accidents. So if you want to call attention to a murder or attempted murder cut the brake lines or otherwise manipulate the equipment because this would be a heads up to forensic investigators that something is off.

Kinds of accidents that cause fatalities include:

* almost half are collisions between moving vehicles
* another 25% fixed objects such as walls or trees
* 10% pedestrians
* 10% non-collisions like going over cliffs
* 2% bikes
* 1% trains

ON THE SCENE

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Is the accident scene safe for medical intervention?
a. Are there people with guns shooting? EMT cannot go
    in until the scene of the accident is secured.
b. Are there any chemical hazards? Perhaps from a
   delivery truck? If so, a hazard team (hazmat) must be
   called in.
c. Several teams usually work together (the fire, police,
    and EMTs) to save the occupants.
    BLOG LINK - EMT

2. A road block is established to maintain the integrity
   of the scene. Then an investigator will become
   involved to help determine what exactly happened to
   cause the accident.

Investigators should:
* Make sure they are visible and not creating further victims by getting themselves in trouble.

Accidents have reasons and rules

* They leave a trail of forensic evidence.
* 90% includes human error
* 50% include a problem like highway design
Video Quick Study (9:41) Shows an accident investigator talking about how they use crash forensics.

Investigators will use:

* Length of skid marks
* Crush depth
* Positions where vehicles come to rest after the accident
* Direction the vehicle had been traveling
* Point of impact (if it can be determined)
* Were the lights and turn signals used properly (they check the filaments in the light bulbs for this
   information)
* Some cars are equipped with black boxes which stores car use information.

Video Study (22:15) For your inner geek: Understanding car crashes Basic Physics
Video Study (23:51) More inner geek: Physics Meets Biology

As a writer you'll want to decide:
* Speed of heroine's car.
* Car that your heroine is driving (model year makes a big difference)
* What she hits
* If another car, what type and how fast.

And then do a little research on what the outcome would generally look like.

Video Quick Study (2:33) Size and weight matters in survivability.

The investigator creates a map of the scene

* Includes accurate measurements

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* The location of any crash debris

The investigator will also:

* Look for paint transfer evidence
* Attempt to determine the road worthiness of the
   car both prior to the accident and after.
* What was the time of day?
* What were the light and weather conditions?
* What were the physical and mental conditions of
   the drivers involved?
* Levels of sobriety?

Video Quick Link Simulator of how it feels to drive drunk
Video Quick Study (5:17) Following a drunk driver and confronting her for her driving

They look for clues of distraction:

* How high was the radio volume setting?
* Are there open containers of food?
* Does a woman have her makeup kit out and opened?
* Is there alcohol or drug evidence?
* Are there headphones?
* They will check the driver's cell phones for texting or calls.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Forensic Engineers - analyse the data collected by the investigators to apply the laws of physics such as Newton's Laws to determine such information as speed at the time of impact. Forensic Engineers are typically called in after the fact. They will use:
* Reports written by responding investigators/police
* Photographs
* The vehicles or what's left of them
* Statements by eye witnesses
   Blog Link - Eye Witness Reliability

Video Quick Study (8:36) high tech 3D engineer model created for court evidence

Vehicles often look different when being analyzed than they did at the scene of the accident because:
* They often need to be altered to remove the people who were involved in the crash.
* Towing
Video Quick Study (5:55) Accident clean up after accident and how the remove the cars.

The investigators also try to determine who was sitting where

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

* Legitimately, the passengers could have been ejected
   from the car or thrown around inside of the car making
   it difficult to tell who was driving.
* But what if your bad guy was in a wreck, and the
   passenger died? He might try to switch seats with the
   dead guy to implicate the deceased and keep himself
   out of trouble. What if they weren't dead but
   unconscious and the bad guy wants to blame the
   wreck on an innocent passenger? Then it's his word
   against your heroines.

A responding investigator would look for evidence of this such as:
* Blood stains (can by typed as A, AB etc)
* Hair transfer
* Injury profiles

Thank you for stopping by. I wish all of my readers safety. To that end, I'm including a safety tutorial to help you and your heroine in case there is an accident either fictional or real-life. Video Quick Study (9:46)

Fiona Quinn's Newsletter Link, Sign up HERE

Thank you so much for stopping by. And thank you for your support. When you buy my books, you make it possible for me to continue to bring you helpful articles and keep ThrillWriting free and accessible to all.