Pumping gas can be dangerous. Do you know how to stay safe while at the pump?
I recently read, with horror, a news story about an 18 year old Colorado Springs girl who tragically lost her life when a careless driver caused a crash at a convenience store gas pump. The car hit a pick up truck, which was situated on the opposite side of the pump the girl was using, and the pick up was forced into the pump, which was forced into the girl’s minivan, pinning her tightly between them.
The pump instantly lit up in flames and the poor girl, unable to escape, died in the inferno as bystanders stood helplessly by. They tried to help but she was in there too tightly and an off duty police officer shoo’d people away just before the minivan erupted in an explosive pyroic display.
It sounds like a dramatic scene from an action packed movie, but, unfortunately, this was a scene in real life for these Colorado Springs residents this past St. Patrick’s Day. Those of us who merely read about it found ourselves horrified, I can’t imagine how the witnesses to this tragedy must feel, let alone the girl’s parents.
My heart goes out to them.
As I pondered the situation, so many things went through my mind about how people often have their children buckled into their car seats in the back seats of their cars as they are gassing up. Could someone have gotten their small children to safety in time if they were involved in such an accident?
Could this have been avoided?
While we can’t control the behavior of others, we can certainly do all we can to keep ourselves safe, but nothing is 100% fail safe.
Here are a few tips that I hope will help others to avoid tragedy:
- Have an escape plan in case of emergency.
- When at the pump, try to pull a little bit beyond the pump so that you are not standing directly between the pump and your vehicle. This way if there is an impact opposite of you or into you, you’re not as likely to be sandwiched in between the pump and your vehicle.
- DO NOT SMOKE while pumping gas. In fact, don’t smoke anywhere near a gas pump or gas station.
- Turn your engine off when fueling up.
- Turn OFF your cell phone or other pocket electronic devices. Gas fumes are highly flammable and a spark from them can ignite the fumes.
- Do not go back and sit in your car during fueling. The little sparks from static electricity caused by you getting in and out of your car really can cause fumes to ignite. So can static caused by the car door opening and closing, particularly if you have electronic systems in your doors, which most cars these days have.
- If you DO sit in your car, as soon as you get out, touch something metal on your car (away from the fueling area) first to ground any static electricity you may have on you or in your clothes.
- If the gas nozzle becomes inflamed, LEAVE IT IN THE CAR and get the heck away from there - DO NOT pull it out. If you have anyone in the car with you, get them the heck out as fast as you can before the entire car explodes into a fireball.
- When you are finished fueling, if you have children or pets in your vehicle, pull away from the pumps to go in and pay, if you don’t pay beforehand. You should never leave them unattended anyway, but it’s safer to remove the children from the car to go in and pay when you’re parked away from the pumps.
- Parents - try not to have your children with you in the car at the pump unless you have someone with you who can help you evacuate in case of emergency.
As with the news story I read, one never knows whether some crazy driver, not paying attention, will run into the pumps or into someone else, forcing them into the pumps.
Here are a few websites I found that discuss safety at the gas pumps in more detail: