Breakdown on I-295 or the Maine Turnpike: What to Do Before the Truck Arrives
August 26, 2026
The car is the least dangerous thing in this situation. Standing next to it on the shoulder is the most dangerous, and most people get that backwards.
Get as far right as the car will still travel
A car that is losing power still has momentum, and momentum is the resource that buys you a better place to stop. Signal, work right across the lanes while you still have speed, and aim for the widest piece of shoulder you can reach, an exit ramp, or a rest area.
Stopping in a travel lane is the outcome to avoid at almost any cost. If it happens anyway, hazards on immediately and stay belted in the vehicle with the headrests as they are. A struck car protects its occupants far better than a shoulder protects a pedestrian.
Avoid stopping on a bridge, in a tunnel, on the inside of a blind curve, or at the crest of a hill. Those are the places where a following driver has the least time to see you, and they are worth another few hundred yards of limping to avoid.
Then decide: stay in, or get out and back
There is no single right answer, and the honest version is that it depends on where you stopped.
On a wide shoulder with good sightlines, staying belted inside with hazards on is usually the safer choice, particularly in bad weather or at night. On a narrow shoulder, on a curve, or anywhere a passing truck's mirror would sweep the car, getting everyone out through the passenger-side doors and well back behind the guardrail is safer.
What is never right is standing beside the driver's door, or in front of the car with the hood up, looking at the engine. That is the position most likely to be occupied when something goes wrong.
What Maine asks of the drivers passing you
Maine's move over law sits at 29-A M.R.S. section 2054, subsection 9. It requires that the operator of a vehicle passing a stationary authorized emergency vehicle using an emergency light, or a stationary public service vehicle using its authorized lights, shall pass in a lane not adjacent to that vehicle if possible, and where a non-adjacent lane is impossible or unsafe, pass at a careful and prudent speed reasonable for passing safely.
The minimum fine was raised to $275 by Public Law Chapter 254 of the 129th Legislature, an act titled to strengthen the so-called move over law.
The practical takeaway is not legal, it is behavioral. That protection attaches to lit vehicles, which means it starts working when the truck arrives with its lights on, not while you are sitting there in an unlit sedan. Until then, your hazards and your position are the whole of your safety plan.
What to tell dispatch
Location is the part people get wrong, and on a limited-access highway it is the part that matters most.
- The road, the direction of travel, and the nearest mile marker. Mile markers beat exit numbers because they are more precise and they are right there.
- If there is no marker in sight, the last exit you passed and roughly how far back it was.
- Whether you are on the shoulder or in a lane, and which side.
- What the car is doing: will not start, will not move, overheating, flat, out of fuel, or damaged after a collision.
- Drivetrain and powertrain, because an all-wheel-drive or electric car needs a flatbed rather than a hook.
- How many people are with you, including children and animals, since that changes what the truck needs to be able to carry.
The problems that are not tows
A good share of highway calls end without the car going anywhere. A flat with a usable spare, an empty tank, a dead battery on a cold morning: all of those are roadside assistance rather than recovery, and they clear in one visit.
The ones that genuinely need a truck are the ones where the car cannot be driven safely even a short distance: overheating that has already run hot, anything after a collision, a wheel or suspension problem, or a car that will not restart. For those the right call is emergency towing, and getting it moving matters more than getting it diagnosed on the shoulder.
Either way, one call to somebody who dispatches a local tow operator in Portland is faster than working down a list, because the first question they ask should be the one that decides which of the two this is.
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Quick Answers
Should I stay in my car if it breaks down on the highway?
It depends on where you stopped. On a wide shoulder with good sightlines, staying belted inside with hazards on is usually safer, especially at night or in bad weather. On a narrow shoulder or a curve, exit through the passenger side and move well back behind the guardrail.
What does Maine's move over law require?
Under 29-A M.R.S. section 2054(9), a driver passing a stationary authorized emergency vehicle using an emergency light, or a stationary public service vehicle using its authorized lights, must pass in a non-adjacent lane if possible, or otherwise at a careful and prudent speed. The minimum fine was raised to $275.
What is the most useful thing to tell a tow dispatcher on the highway?
The road, your direction of travel, and the nearest mile marker. Mile markers are more precise than exit numbers and they are visible from where you are sitting.