And what if you couldn’t make it to the hard shoulder before the car stopped? Do you just stay in there and wait for some random other person to get to a phone and call somebody?
And what if you couldn’t make it to the hard shoulder before the car stopped? Do you just stay in there and wait for some random other person to get to a phone and call somebody?
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Walked to the nearest house and used their phone!!
Waited to be killed by a serial killer.
If there were houses nearby, you knocked and asked to use the phone or you walked until you found a payphone. Sometimes, people would stop and look at the car or give you a ride. I couldn’t imagine doing that now…..
Start walking or get ready to stay in place for the night. South AAco was full of nothing.
Start walking
I had to walk miles once, and when I found help, my car was gone and it took me ages to figure out who’d towed it. Then they wouldn’t give it back because I couldn’t drive it off the lot. Started charging me for storing it there. Good lord it was a nightmare
Try to find the nearest pay phone. Or, maybe you’d be lucky and some nice person would give you a lift. I gave people rides in such situations, and people gave me rides as well.
Walk and hope you come across a house and the people are home. Ask to use their phone and hope they don’t murder you when you go inside.
I once blew a tire in the middle of a large bridge. I walked down the bridge (about a mile?) to the first house. I knocked on the door. When the homeowner answered, they just smiled and pointed at a phone that had been placed on a small table right by the front door.
Several years later, I noticed that a payphone had been installed in their front yard.
You’d determine where the nearest phone was and walk there. Sometimes it was a gas station at an exit…it could be a person’s house. If you didn’t know where a phone might be and that that wasn’t an option, you’d just have to wait for help to show up. If you were lucky, that someone would be the police and they would radio for help and stay there with you until they got there. If it wasn’t the police and just a good samaritan, they would either offer you a ride to the nearest phone or they would drive to the nearest phone and call the police for you (if you weren’t comfortable getting into the car with them).
I lived in SoCal, so we had emergency phones on the freeway. Or the next exit had a place with a phone.
I was at a party with some guys. We left, 2 am. The pick up broke down on Shrewsbury St in Worcester. The 400 lb driver took off his pants, lay down on the median , and put his legs in the air. Some Worcester cops drove by, slowed down, laughed, and kept going. We walked home.
I think it was the PA turnpike that had a phone every mile or so. It wasn’t really a phone though, it connected directly to a dispatcher. The dispatcher would know where you were calling from but you would tell them the mileage marker where your car was. Then you walked back to your car and waited for a trooper and a tow truck.
A couple of times I’ve picked up someone stranded on the interstate and dropped them off at the next exit.
My car ran out of gas on a busy highway in a major city and I pulled over to the right side. A guy came along in a small pickup with a gas can and gave me a ride to the gas station and back to add fuel. I was very nervous the entire time but it was daylight and he had no ill intentions. It was decades ago.
I once (1994) had a flat tire on a highway with my newborn. The closest exit was 5 miles away. I stayed in my car. After a while a guy stopped to check on me. I wrote down my husband’s work phone number & he drove off to find a pay phone. About 30 minutes later a state trooper stopped & then my husband arrived. I stayed in the car with the baby while they changed the tire.
If you broke down you were at the mercy of others to help you.
Try to fix or rig the problem, if I couldn’t then I walked to the nearest payphone
Pretty much, yeah. Wait for a passing car to give you a lift, walk to the nearest civilization, try to fix whatever problem you’re having yourself… Basically the same thing you would do today if you’re in a spot with crappy cell coverage or your battery dies and you don’t have a charger.
Walked
Raise the hood was the unwritten signal that the car was kaput and you needed help. Someone might slow and offer to give you a ride or call someone when they got to wherever they were going.
You walk to somewhere a phone is located.
Put the hood up and wait
Police would find you.
You walked (or hitchhiked) to the nearest exist and either found a phone to call someone or you found a way to fix the issue yourself. In some cases, other drivers would stop and assist.
In California there were highway phones (yellow) every mile
I broke down once. I watched at least three police cars pass without stopping, and then a nice man from Minnesota stopped and helped me out.
Sometimes, waited for a guy to stop and help. We also hitchhiked to the nearest town for a pay phone
Walk. Change tire. Walk.
I had this happen to me in Southern California in the middle of the night. Luckily I was able to get to the shoulder. I got out and walked a bit to a call box and the operator connected me to my dad, who came out and pushed my car to safety! He went out and bought me my first cell phone the next day! (This was like in 2001)
Walked. I remember blowing a tire and luckily I was about 2 miles away from a small town where my uncle was football coach. Since I was in high school and had no credit cards, I was able to tell them my dad would pay for it. I also remember walking after running out of gas.
I grew up near a US interstate highway and this happened once. Two guys came to the house that ran out of gas. Being a farm, we always had gas. The dude paid me $5 and I took a gas can and put a gallon of gas in car so he could get to the next exit for gas.
You walked to the nearest phone praying they don’t have a big mean dog.
Hitch hike
As others have said, you started walking until you got to a phone somewhere.
My dad actually drilled me on this scenario. Never leave anyone behind with the car, and if you get to a house before a business, politely ask them to call your parents for you – do not ask to come into their home to use their phone.
I had an amateur radio hand held radio in the car. I never once needed it for any emergency. I still have the radio.
Hitchhiked home. Usually, I got picked by a stoner and ended up at a party.
Used the yellow call boxes.
Pushed it to the side, tried to flag someone down while hiking
They used to have call boxes on the side of the freeway.
You popped your car into neutral, rolled it out of the way, and then got out and walked to a phone.
We walked 20 miles up hill both ways barefoot in the snow to the nearest gas station.
Hitchhike to civilization.
One time in the 80s, I was driving home from work. I was 16 and worked at a grocery store. It was midnight and maybe -30 Fahrenheit. Way colder with wind chill. We lived way out in the country. I was driving an old piece of shit. Anyhow, it was so fucking cold that my gasoline just froze up while I was driving. I was so lucky that a guy my dad’s age was behind me in his pickup. He and his son drove me all the way home. Honestly, I would’ve been fucked. There were no houses for miles.
One time I cut a piece of fence wire to hook up a broken carburetor cable back up. Back then, you could often DIY fixes.
A few times, I slept in my car.
Walked to a pay phone. Fun times.
As young foolish teens with our parents’ car, I was driving with my sister on an interstate highway (not very busy at that time) in a suburban area around 9 pm when we got a flat tire. We didn’t know how to change it and were arguing about which way to try to walk to find a phone when a patrol car pulled up. The cop drove us to a nearby hotel that let us use their phone to call our dad. But then he drove us back to the car and left us alone to wait! Panic set in a bit because we had only told Dad the hotel we were calling from and not where the car was. Luckily, he saw us as he was driving to the hotel. But now I think about how unsafe that would be today and nobody thought anything of it then! Dad did show us how to change a tire after that, at least.
Walked to a pay phone.
You kept change for a pay phone always. You walked to a pay phone and called mom, dad or spouse and hoped hoped hoped they picked up the phone, because you weren’t calling a mobile phone, it was a regular phone attached to a building where they had to be at home or work to answer it. That is if the answering machine didn’t pick up first.
You walked to the closest house and knocked on the door.
A couple options.
You could wait around for someone to maybe stop and help
Walk to a phone.
Had my car break down about 40 miles from home in the middle of winter. Waiting didn’t seem like it was a good idea because the car had no power and would not start so I hiked about 3 miles to a payphone to call someone to come pick me up. It was cold.
I had a flat tire once years ago and as I was pulling the tire out of my truck a trucker stopped and changed it for me.
I was a woman wearing a suit and heels in my late twenties or early thirties. I was so grateful that the guy pulled over and did it for me. I was on a busy highway.
Guess what, people would be driving past and often pull over seeing your in need of help. My friends daughter was in car accident last week on fwy. Got spun off the side of road. No one stopped to even call 911
Start walking.
believe it or not
people would pull over and help….. push the car off road, help you find the problem, take you to gas or a phone, etc
I remember being about 10 and my moms car breaking down on a back road at night. She left my brother and I in the car and walked to the nearest house. Then a man came back and told us to get in the wagon in back of the tractor and we did, and he brought us to his house and my mom was sitting in the kitchen drinking a coffee and they had their daughter bring us out to look at the pigs. About two hours later after eating whatever it was, my uncle showed up and took us home. The car showed up a day or so later at our house. I was 10 so no idea how it got to the house. Then every now and then we went back to the farmhouse people and ran around outside with their kids.
This happened to me. My old truck ran out of gas and I lived in the country so nothing was near. I walked to the closest house and used their phone. Just an older couple and they were super nice. But people were not surprised when you knocked and needed to use the phone because that’s what everyone had to do.
If you couldn’t make it to the shoulder you got out and pushed the car over. Usually people stop to help you do that. At least for me as a young female.
Waved someone down and got a ride, unless there was a gas station or house within walking distance.
Blew out a tire early one morning on the road to Hana in Maui. Managed to put on the spare, but it was flat too! Shit.
So I made a little sign that said “Got Fix-A-Flat?” and would hold it up when I saw someone coming. Every single person stopped, but none had Fix-A-Flat but all said they’d send someone to help.
Sure enough, in about 1/2 an hour a guy from the county showed up, removed my tire and took it to the shop to have it repaired. Wouldn’t accept anything for his trouble, just said it was part of the job!
My grandmother, my mother, and I had a flat tire on a back road in the boonies of SC when I was a child. I changed my first tire at age 10!
I grew up in the 70’s things were different. People helped people, we were t afraid. But the world has changed!!
Start walking.
A. Fixed it myself. Always carried tools and extra parts e.g. Thermostats just fail sometimes. Once the engine cools a bit it’s a 10 minute fix with a cheap part and crescent wrench and pliers (could actaully do it with just a pair of pliers
B. Walked to nearest house and asked to use the phone (often times one of the people living there may have been able to get you back on the road and probably ask you to stay for dinner.
C. Hitch hiked
D. Push the car off to the side of the road. The next car that came along would probably stop and assist you with this. We never passed a stranded car without at least inquiring if they need a ssitance or a ride
A different time and different society. Circa 60’s, 70’s and 80’s
There were emergency phones every couple of miles. You’d walk to 1 to get help.
either CB radio or ham radio call out for help. Ham radio (amatuer radio and yes I’m licensed) was more effective.
People would stop and help.
Walked to the closest phone. In the cb days, you could call state police on channel 9, especially on a highway if the vehicle was a road hazard. People also looked after others more because most people have been in that same spot. And cars broke down a lot back then. You also might get murdered by a nut job.
Pay phones were common. Always kept change in your car for that reason
Step 1; Try and fix it
Step 2: Walk to a phone if nearby or
Step 3: Start thumbing a ride
People were real eager stop and help you. If you just put your hood up and sat in your car, somebody eventually drove by and asked if you needed help. They would give you a ride to the nearest town to get a tow truck. I remember it was always the poorest looking people who stopped for you.
Locked the car, turned into a Ninja and walked to the nearest house or home.
One of my least fondest memories was when my mom picked me up for a holiday weekend from college and brought me to her place. About an hour away from school. Unfortunately I was ill and had just started a new medication that it turned out I was allergic to. She awoke me after I slept way too long and realized I was covered in hives and rushed me to the ER, where I was pumped full of Benadryl and monitored until my reaction was over. This took hours as you can imagine, and I was freaking exhausted. Mom decided to take me back to school so I could get some rest so we set out that rainy night for campus, but mom’s shitty car broke down, as it often did, while we were on a bridge going out of town.
We had to walk down the bridge in the pouring rain, me half asleep from the Benadryl, scale a chain link fence at the end and walk until we got to a neighborhood with houses where we knocked on a stranger’s door and asked to use the phone. Fortunately, they were kind and let us. Mom called her friend who came and picked us up, took me to school and then took my mom back home.
This is how it was a lot when I was growing up and it fucking SUCKED. I will never, ever have this “nostalgia” for how things used to be before phones.
Alot of rural roads and long walks if you broke down. Richer kids had CB radios to call for help. Surprisingly effective.
👍
Not that old, but a number of years ago I had just got back to the states and had no cell phone. Took off on a motorcycle trip and heavily overestimated my gas tank range. When I ran out of gas on the interstate, well, nothing to do but start walking.
I’ll be damned if a guy with and EMPTY motorcycle trailer didn’t pull over and help me out after I made it about 100 yards. I’ll never pay that one back fully.
Some people will just help folks out.
Hoped somebody stopped to help.
Call box.
Drop a dime
You waited for the kindness of strangers. Seriously.
More people were willing to stop back in the day.
Or you walked to the nearest gas station. And you would hope there was one on the highway if you didn’t know where you were.
Pay phones were a thing. People would stop. Go to a nearby house or business and use their phone.
I had a flat tire on the highway in the early 90s, and someone pulled over because they had a car phone, which was pretty unusual for the time, and they offered to let us use it to call someone.
Smoke signals
Years ago my car broke down in the middle of nowhere. A gravel, rural road with nothing nearby. Thankfully a farm family happened upon me and my broken down car. They had a tow rope in their vehicle (as all good farm families do). They towed me and my car to the nearest town. My car then had to be towed to another nearby town as that town didn’t have a mechanic to fix the issue. It was going to take a few days to fix my car. I was driving to meet my parents where they were camping when my car broke down. A different farmer offered to give me a ride to the campground in his pickup. Thankfully he wasn’t a serial killer and I made it safely to my parents.
I had a very frightening scare like this when I was about 20. I still lived with my parents out on our acreage in northern Alberta. The Jimmy we had was temperamental and would sometimes just stop running for no reason. So it was the middle of the night, winter and -30C, I was on a country road in the middle of nowhere and no nearby houses, and the Jimmy quit on me. I thought I was going to die. Fortunately, it did eventually restart. Needless to say, my Dad was under the Jimmy’s hood the next day, and it never quit on me like that again.
There were call boxes along RT 50. Sometimes the state police would help.
walked to the next exit or hitch hiked or just waited for a car to come along and flag them down.
Used the shoe leather express, with a thumb stuck out there
People used to stop for each other. If there wasn’t anybody driving by, you would walk to the next house.
We tried to find a phone box.
Pushed the vehicle off the road, then started walking.
You know how you can go on a hike deep in the woods and come across someone injured and you’ll help them without it occurring to you that you might not?
It was like that. You pulled over to check on a solo disabled vehicle. Offer a ride to a phone, fix a flat, or place a call for someone.
The odds of a rapist serial killer stopping were far lower than some regular folks with an ounce of compassion.
Also, if you drove a ford, you knew it was going to be you someday. We just looked out for one another.
Pay phone if close by… always had a dime I had to put in my shoe for emergency calls home.
I had my car break down on a freeway. I climbed a fence, trudged to the nearest house to use their phone. I called my parents collect, since long distance calls were expensive. We had people stop at our house, usually stuck in the snow.
Walked and hoped for the best.
At least OLD PEOPLE will know what to do the one of those Armageddon movies come true and the internet implodes! Imagine your life with out a little black box in your hand!
Walked.
You raise the hood to show that you were broken
Walked or hoped somebody who wasn’t a murderer stopped to help. I was 21 and had a flat tire. A guy stopped to help and it was on a rural road (70’s) never occurred to me that he could kidnap me til decades later. Just a few years ago I learned that Ted Bundy was in the area of my college the city it was located in during the 70’s when I was there. I also heard all victims had very long brown hair like me.
A guy literally changed my tire for me, and drove off. 1992 ish? I’m still amazed.
Walk until you found a phone. Maybe someone nice would pick you up, or maybe you’d be murdered. 50/50.
Summer of 81, I was 18, borrowed my older brothers F250…driving up to rural to see my girlfriend who was a working at a horse ranch. Got a right rear blow out. Had a spare in the bed but the jack didn’t lift the truck high enough.
So I walked into town about a mile or so. Heard some music and guys talking in the garage. I asked if they had a couple of 2×4 scraps or a block of wood I could use. Why? Told them.
5 guys get up, toss a huge ass floor jack, T-lug wrench and their cooler into the back of one of their trucks, we jump in the bed, they hand me a beer and drove me out to the truck, They changed my tire and had me on the road in 5 minutes. I had only like $30 cash on me and I offered to give them some money… hell no!
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Wait for the DPS to come or a hopefully helpful stranger. As a single woman years ago, I remember having a flat on my Four Runner outside of Tucson. A nice trucker saw me struggling with a lug nut -I was actually standing on the wrench but it wouldn’t budge-and helped me change the tire. I’ll never forget that Good Samaritan.
Accident. Stumbled a block in the dark of a mountain road with a fractured sternum til I happened upon a long driveway with a gate and a keypad. Just pressed random buttons and waited. They responded and call an ambulance for me. Crazy.
Cars broke down a lot more often back then. You put the hood up on your car which everyone knew meant you had car trouble. You fixed it if you could or I remember a few times some handier person stopping and helping my dad get the car running again. If that didn’t work then you’d get a lift to the nearest gas station which was sure to have a mechanic on duty.
Walked…to the nearest service station
People were more likely to help back in those days because there were no other options. Today you’d probably never get anyone to answer their door at best, or get shot at worst.
So back in the dark ages of the 1970s, I was driving down the five freeway coming home from San Francisco. I broke down about halfway between Turlock and Madera. Maybe 10 minutes? After I broke down trucker pulled over got on his CV radio don’t know who he called but about 40 minutes later the California highway patrol showed up with a tow truck towed me down to Fresno. I never got a bill for it. Turned out that some electrical cable had come loose. Super easy fix and I was on my way in the morning
Start walking.
People were more willing to help. It might be you stuck on the side of the road next time so we helped. Back in the early 1980’s we were coming back from DC heading to North Carolina and the engine blew. My SO, my baby brother (14) and I were stuck on the side of the interstate a few miles from Fredericksburg VA with very little money. Not long afterwards a guy on a motorcycle stopped and said he saw our out of state tags and stopped to see if we needed help. He goes home, gets his car, picks us up, takes us to his house. His wife and he feeds us, we spend the night there. The next morning they take us to the bus station, loans us money for bus tickets and gets the car towed off the interstate. I consider this man a saint! You better bet he got his money back. I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for this kind stranger.
If your car somehow managed to get stuck in the middle of the road, someone with a truck would typically come along and push you off the road. You see, cars had chrome bumpers that could resist scratches and slow speed impacts. And one car could push another
One night there was a knock on my door at 1:00 in the morning. Open the door and a guy was standing out there asking could I give him a push. I told him no but when I got back in bed my wife asked what was that all about and then proceeded to guilt me and to helping the guy. So I walked outside and said hey where are you and the guy said over here on the swing
Yup, put the hood up (universal sign that you need help) and wait.
Side story: my wife and I broke down in the middle of nowhere. A large Hispanic family pulled over to help. The kids translated while the father worked and the mother offered us food. No gracias. We were back on the road in 30 minutes. I’ll never forget that family.
When I was 17 my friend and I got stuck at the bottom of a gulch near Lake Baryessa in California (car broke down). It was about 9pm. We had no choice but to flag down another vehicle and hitchhike (we ended up in Napa and called my friend’s brother to come get us).
We got lectured by the guy that picked us up the whole way about how stupid and dangerous it was for two young girls to hitchhike in serial killer country (we were close to one of the known Zodiac killer scenes).
Wait with your blinkers on and hood up for someone to pull over and help. People weren’t like they are today, someone would always pull.up within minutes.
Also, many major highways have an assistance patrol that goes up and down looking for stranded drivers. I am in PA so we have Penndot and State Farm that does this.
One day my Dad and I ran out of gas. Some biker dude stopped and came to our rescue. Then about a year later, I slept with the guy. Fun times!
True story. 17 years old. Dressed up like a rocker chick. 1985. Car broke down in a residential neighborhood i was unfamiliar with. I flagged down a car and asked a guy for a ride to a party my friends were at. I could have been killed but he was a nice guy.
Walk to a pay phone. It was pretty normal
We had call boxes on the freeways in California. Or bum a ride or walk to the nearest pay phone.
You walked towards civilization and hoped that someone nice would come by and give you a ride.
walked
Fixed it or started walking 🚶♂️
You put your hazards on and hoped someone pulled over !
Our motorways used to have phones at set distances so that if you broke down you could get directly connected to help services. If you weren’t on a motorway you just prayed someone would stop and help
Thumbed a ride to a phone. There used to be a ‘Good Sam’s’ club that would help out.
You hoped the person who stopped to help you wasn’t a serial killer or rapist
Other drivers would get out of their cars and help you push your car to the side of the road. Use the nearest pay phone (they used to be all over!) to call AAA or a tow truck. It was a kinder world back then.
Walked or fixed it or waited for a stranger to come along
You walked to a phone ….
You cried until a strange guy with a hook for a hand showed up and killed you.
Left the car and walked to the nearest house, store, business to ask to use the phone to call for help. Sometimes hitch a ride to get someplace to get help.
We walked. Sometimes we saw a house and knocked to ask to use their phone. Sometimes we got murdered. Sometimes we got cake
Stuck your thumb out or walked to the closest house