Essentials for a Vehicle Emergency Kit

By Cherie

Being prepared for an emergency is serious business. You probably realize, for instance, the wisdom of carrying an emergency kit in your vehicle. But do you have one in there right now?

During the winter of 2006, a couple and their children were returning home from vacation. They missed their turnoff, drove perhaps an hour beyond it, and decided to try an alternate route across the mountains.

It wasn’t a good idea. They ended up stuck in snow, low on gas, and lost. They carried no emergency gear. After a week of going hungry, the husband decided to hike out for help. Two days later, rescuers arrived to find the mother and two little girls cold and hungry, but alive. The husband was later found dead in a canyon.

The first thing to know about getting stranded is that you are almost always better off staying put. In order to make that possible, these five things can be a lifesaver:

Water: You can go weeks without food, but you’ll be lucky to make it a week without water. You can either carry water or something to carry water in. Use your head here. If you are going to be traveling across the desert, carry water. If you are going to be near water sources, it will be good enough to have empty containers and a purification kit.

Shelter: Every summer, tourists take off down the trail for a day hike in the mountains, get lost, and end up freezing to death when the temperature drops and a storm sets in. “Shelter” means anything between you and the elements: Sleeping bags or wool blankets and heavy plastic for makeshift structures. Include heavy sweatshirts, dry socks, and stocking caps for each passenger.

Food: MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) pack up well and can last for years. On the low-budget end, Raman noodles can taste pretty good when you’re hungry. Include a cooking pot, and some mugs. A small grill rack can come in handy, as well. With a good knife, you can slice off kindling material and cut food. Keep a Sunday paper rolled up tight for extra help getting your fire started.

Communications: Cell phones don’t work everywhere, and they can run out of battery power. But even when you are out of cell range, they can guide a rescue team to you. Dial 911 when you are in trouble. Even if you have no voice service, your phone may leave a digital footprint to follow. Carry a solar charger for your phone. You may be able to reach a cellular tower by climbing to the top of a hill or ridge. Other communications devices include mirrors, flares, laser pointers, glow sticks, flashlights, and surveyor’s fluorescent tape. Be sure to stow one daytime signaling device and one nighttime signaling device.

E-Pack: The E-Pack (Emergency Pack) is a backpack containing miscellaneous items: A survival knife, butane lighters and/or waterproof matches, a first-aid kit, a survival manual, 20 feet or so of good, stout cord, and extra water purification tablets. Those who take medication should carry extra. Toothbrushes help keep you feeling human and toilet paper is nice.

Coffee drinkers will want to keep a jar of instant handy. Consider the things you would normally take camping and fill your E-Pack accordingly. It is also good to carry a flag. It can go on the car antenna to indicate help is needed, or placed on a pole or hung on a ridge to get the attention of searchers.

Tending to car maintenance issues can prevent trouble. A pre-trip inspection can uncover issues easily fixed in town, but dangerous on the road. Checking the oil and water, battery condition, water hose condition, and making sure your tires are properly inflated and in good shape (including the spare) are essentials. Tires are easy to replace.

People get lost. Cars break down. Just be ready.


20 survival items ebook cover
Like what you read?

Then you're gonna love my free PDF, 20 common survival items, 20 uncommon survival uses for each. That's 400 total uses for these dirt-cheap little items!

We will not spam you.

4 thoughts on “Essentials for a Vehicle Emergency Kit”

  1. A lifelong friend had come up to visit from Camp Lejeune. My kiddos were small and wanted to go camping in the nearby Shennandoah. We threw a tent and some supplies in the back and on top of my old Jeep and off we went. We pitched and set up camp quickly and with little to do before nightfall, all went for a stroll. Here we were, two graduates of US Gov’t survival schools, physically and mentally (maybe) fit, and my two young kiddos. The shadows were getting longer and I asked my buddy Grant, if we might ought to be getting back. “Lead the way,” he remarked. I realized that I had been focused on getting caught up on things with my old friend and hadn’t a clue where camp was. We quickly learned that he didn’t either. We set up a search pattern and thankfully found the camp about the time it was really getting dark.

    No doubt that had either of us been in any sort of tactical situation or patrolling, we would never have been confused as to where we were or where we were headed. The problem was that we were just out for a good time stroll in the woods.

    That experience taught both of us an important lesson, the least of which was never to ass u me that the other was navigating, but more fundamentally to alter our approach in ‘casual’ settings.

    We were both native flat landers of the Texas Panhandle where more than two trees in a county constituted a forest, but through wonderful schooling and subsequent experience had become experienced woodsmen. Notwithstanding, we became disoriented and lost because we simply were paying too much attention catching up and not enough attention to where we were aimlessly wandering.

    I doubt either of us will ever make that error in the future. We learned a hard lesson this time in exchange for relatively cheap tuition. It doesn’t have to work out that way.

    Best,
    PR

    Reply
  2. PR, you’re not the first or only experienced fella to pull this type of stunt. I used to teach Wilderness Survival in the Army and in civilian life. While I like to brag that I’ve never been “LOST”, I do have to confess to having been “CONFUSED” a couple of times.

    One such time I spotted an albino (white) squirrel and decided to follow it in hopes of finding its home and see if there were others. I planned to later come back with a live-trap.

    Well, I was watching the squirrel and not the terrain. I suddenly realized I was in unfamiliar territory and didn’t know if I had crossed three different branches or the same one three times. Ok, no problem, I know I went North when leaving the truck, so I’ll just keep the sun to my left shoulder and head back. I didn’t think about the fact that the sun is to our South and instead of traveling South, I was traveling Southwest and came out about a mile West of my truck

    My belief is that if I get back the “same day” as I left, I was not lost, just confused. If I have to spend the night when I had not planned to, I am lost.

    Be blessed,
    Bull

    Reply
  3. throw a can or 2 of fix-a-flat in that kit. . . . and maybe some tire slime. . . . and make sure you actually do a have a jack (and all it’s parts) and a lug wrench that fits the nuts holding on that flat tire. . .

    Reply

Leave a Comment