Vehicle Crash Safety

Hit a pole? Stay in the Car!

Don't turn a property damage accident with a utility pole into an electrical fatality. 

Tens of thousands of accidents occur each year when power poles are struck by vehicles or large equipment. Each of these accidents has the potential to bring down power lines. Surviving the accident itself might not be enough to stay alive without awareness of the right moves to make.

“Stay in the car, stay in the car, stay in the car!” is the mantra Hendricks Power wants drivers to remember. The exception to this rule is if your car is on fire. In that case, jump clear of the vehicle without touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. Then hop away with feet together. This way, there will not be a voltage difference between your two feet, which would give electricity the chance to flow through your body.

“Whenever a power line is involved, even a minor accident can become tragic,” said Kodi Swafford, Safety Manager of Hendricks Power Cooperative. “Staying put for all involved and warning passersby to stay away, too, cannot be stressed enough. Only after first responders arrive on scene and say it’s OK, should you get out.”

Staying put may go against a driver’s first inclination. You want to get out and check the car. But stepping out of the car immediately after striking a utility pole may KILL YOU. Here’s why:

• Power lines can fall. When a pole is struck, power lines and hardware can break loose from their insulated perches atop the pole.
• Fallen power lines can still be energized. Even touching the ground, power lines can still be carrying 7,200 volts or more. They may not spark or buzz.
• Fallen power lines are hard to see. Silhouetted against the sky or glistening in sunlight atop poles, power lines may seem easy to see. But power lines are almost impossible to see when knocked down and twisted with tall grass or trees as a background, especially at night.
• Electricity seeks the quickest path to ground.You become that path if you get out of the car and touch a live power line and the ground. That amount of electricity passing through you can kill you instantly.
• If you are alive, you are safe. Immediately after a collision with a utility pole, you may not know if power lines have broken loose and are on your car. But if you are alive, you are not that deadly “path to ground.” If you were in that path, you’d already be dead. Stay put and stay safe.
• Call 9-1-1. After hitting a pole, call 9-1-1. Tell them you hit a pole and wait patiently. Tell passersby to stay back. Wait until first responders and/or utility workers arrive and tell you that it’s safe to exit.

“Accidents with utility poles are always going to happen, especially when roads are wet,” Swafford noted. “Know what to do if that happens to you so a minor accident doesn’t become something worse.”