What to Include in a Vehicle Winter Emergency Kit

From 3arf

No one ever plans on running into a roadside winter emergency. However, you can plan for surviving one. Being prepared for a winter emergency is the best way to avoid panicking if an emergency hits. Every car in an area prone to serious snowstorms or ice storms should have a winter emergency kit in the trunk, just in case.

Warm winter clothing

If snow is a new thing for you, dressing properly for the weather is an easy thing to overlook when you're driving a heated car, especially if you're used to going from heated garage to heated car to underground garage. Just keep reminding yourself that you don't want to be stuck changing a tire in cold winter temperatures while dressed only in a light office suit!

Emergencies you can solve yourself

Start your winter emergency kit with what you'll need for small emergencies. These types of glitches are the kind you can deal with yourself, either alone or with the help of a passing motorist. If you've got the right equipment, they probably won't leave you stranded. If you're used to winter car issues, you probably already have most of this stuff in your trunk already.

  • bag of sand or kitty litter, for traction* small shovel, for digging out a small drift* windshield scraper* 10-litre container of gas, replaced regularly with fresh gas* jumper cables* spare tire* a standard car toolkit, including a car jack* standard first aid kit* duct tape* bungee cords* rope

You can keep all this stuff in your trunk. Don't bother with road salt if it gets very cold in your area. It's useless once the temperature gets much below freezing.

Emergencies you'll have to wait out

If you can't get yourself out of a fix quickly, chances are you can't do it on your own. In that case, you'll have to wait for help. In the meantime, you've got to start thinking about how to keep warm. If you start losing body heat, all the rest doesn't matter.

  • spare pair of Thinsulate gloves, hat, and scarf, in case the ones you are wearing get soaked* spare heavy jacket* pair of towels* wool blanket, thermal blanket, or even a small sleeping bag* pillar candles, the kind that are fat and stable and last for hours* a coffee can to hold the candle* matches

Keep all this stuff inside the car cabin. You'll need to reach it quickly and you'll also want to keep as much heat in the car as you can. You'll lose a bit of heat each time you go outside the car to keep your exhaust pipe and vents clear of snow, but your candle and your body heat should warm it up quickly again. Even when you go outside, do not leave the immediate vicinity of the car. In a snowstorm, it's all too easy tolose sight of the car and get disoriented.

Signal for help

If you're stranded out in the middle of nowhere, you'll need to show others where you are, and it's also useful to know what's going on outside. Since you are saving your car battery as much as possible, you won't have much access to your car radio or interior lights. Fully charged and with a good battery, your cellphone will have roughly six hours of life. Use it wisely. Even with a solar charger, don't count on being able to recharge it during winter weather.

You'll also need backup methods of signalling for help. Lots of mountainous areas don't get cellphone reception. Even in more populated regions, a major storm will take the network down, along with your cellphone.

  • fully-charged cellphone* solar-powered recharger (in case you do get enough sun for it to work)* small battery-operated radio, with spare batteries* flashlight* whistle* a few road flares* 2 small orange emergency triangles or reflective poles you can plant to either side of your car, so that your location stays visible above the snow drifts* a large fluorescent orange emergency sign you can spread out over the snow, to be visible from the air

Winter searches often begin in the air, so make sure your signal is visible to a passing airplane. That means you'll have to go outside to plant the flares and emergency signs, so you may as well keep those in the trunk with your usual car emergency kit. Everything else goes in the cabin of your car.

Food and water

Your first priority is getting your car moving again. If that fails, your second is getting into shelter (your car) and staying warm. Your third is to signal for help. Now that you've got warmth and an emergency SOS signal going, your next step is to think about food and water. You'll get thirsty before you get hungry, but you also have to keep your energy levels up.

  • large jug of water* a couple of boxes of fruit and granola energy bars

If you're running low on your stored water, you might try melting snow. However, most powder snow has very little water in it. It's better to skip the snow and conserve the heat inside your car as long as you can.

Prevention

Of course, all this doesn't do much good if someone isn't looking for you. When travelling in winter, always tell someone where you are heading, what route you are taking, and when to expect you. Make sure you are familiar with the route. This isn't the time for risky shortcuts!

Check the road conditions and the weather forecast before you leave. Most regions have a toll-free number or website you can use to check local road conditions. If a road is closed, please don't drive around the barrier. Even if it's a clear blue sky,snow squallscan strike with almost no warning. You could go from bare pavement to whiteout conditions in a split second. If your planned route will take you through a snowbelt region, have an alternative route ready, just in case.

If the forecast calls for an approaching storm, consider delaying your trip until after the roads have been cleared. Arriving late is much better than not arriving at all.

Related Articles

Retrieved from "https://3arf.org/en/index.php?title=What_to_Include_in_a_Vehicle_Winter_Emergency_Kit&oldid=3542"