Stay With Your Car

 

It’s officially winter!  Have you given any thought to what it might be like to spend a night in your car stuck in a ditch somewhere?  Today’s news broadcast reports on the search for a woman who walked away from her car after it slid of the road.  As I write this she is still missing and presumed to be dead.  I’m would hazard a guess that more people each year end up in survival situations after a car accident than do in the backwoods of America.   To continue that thought a step further I would also guess that those people that end “surviving” after a car accident are less prepared than those on a backpacking trip.  We have complete faith in our vehicles ability to get us from one place to the next without incident.  Few people “dress to survive” they “dress to arrive.!

Here’s what I think you should have in your car:

Cellular phone with a charger

4 - quart water bottles

Dehydrated meal with heating element (Military MREs)

Carbohydrate food bars

Toilet paper

Wipes

Tools (jacket, lug wrench, shovel. windshield ice scraper, multipurpose tool)

Road flares

Tow strap

Booster cables

Blankets or sleeping bags

Chemical warmers

Light sticks

Matches

Metal cup

Basic first aid kit

Knife

Additional warm clothing to include warm gloves and work gloves.

Winter footwear

Two empty #10 cans (one for melting snow and one for sanitary purposes)

Sack of cat litter (to improve tire traction)

Personal Emergency Beacon

Spare personal critical medications

Flashlight and spare batteries

Portable radio with spare batteries

Ski goggles
Duct tape or Gorilla Tape
Book to read
50 feet of cord

GPS receiver (provides latitude and longitude coordinates)

If you're stuck in your car stay with your car!  Alert someone. Bring all of your supplies into the car where you can easily access them.  Stay warm.  Be patient.  Help will come!