If you listen to the podcasts, it will not shock you to learn that Salty and I cover a lot of miles by car. Well, in rural Missouri, pretty much everything is a goodly drive away. That’s hardly unique though; many Americans spend a lot of time in their vehicles.
So how prepped is your *car*?
Prepping, in my view, has three elements: mindset, skills, and equipment. Good news! Your car is probably set for the first two categories. It’s unlikely to panic in an emergency and already knows how to do the things it should do in an emergency. Win! Ok…so how’s it equipped?
I sure hope you’ve got some kind of a go-bag in the car, because those things really make life nicer in any size of crises. We’ve got a podcast on what’s in my car bag, so if you’d like to think along those lines, listen away! This post is more about specific Car Stuff for Car Issues.
You’ve got a great head start here too I bet. I suspect your car is equipped with the greatest safety tool ever for vehicular travel: the seat belt. Have you ever been in a car that hit a sudden obstacle at high speed, with the windshield crumpling back toward your face, sparks flying behind it from metal scraping pavement, and the only thing keeping you from meeting the broken glass face-first at 50 mph is the belts you feel pulling you back at chest and waist? I have. Let’s just say it makes a greater impression than the lectures.
Please. Wear those belts.
You know your man loves you when he buys you … a car escape tool?
Absolutely.
If you’re trapped in a car, you’ve probably got two barriers: seat belt and windshield/window glass. The fastest way to cut a seat belt without slicing everything else in that confined space is a purpose-designed belt cutter; and the best way to get through the glass is to concentrate your force on one tiny portion of the glass to get the cracking started.
The car escape tool has you covered.
My model of escape tool has a little rubber cap to keep the sharp point of the glass breaker from corroding. That’s a razor for seat belt cutting in the slot; the slot will help hold the belt for easy cutting plus keep fingers off the blade. I keep it in a ziplock bag to slow corrosion of the blade.
Mine’s in the side pocket of my driver’s door, ever since….
It was a dark and stormy night. Salty and I are driving along some generic rural two-lane highway, between one farm field and another, not a creek or even a culvert in sight, halfway up the hill. There’s a sheen of water across the road. We think nothing of it, can’t be more than an inch or two deep in such a spot, right? Then … why’s the car floating across the lanes?!? We’re being washed away! Just before we float clean off the road, we’re across the wash and catch traction. We’re here to tell the story only because there was no oncoming traffic. I’ll never disrespect the power of running water again; and I’m keeping that escape tool near to hand.
Then there’s when the car itself isn’t feeling so hot. You’ve checked your spare and jack, so you know they work and know how to use them? Obvious, but worth doing.
Two safety items
Here’s a couple of less obvious items: This styling orange pullover.
As a cyclist, I’m acutely aware of how oblivious other drivers can be, particularly when they’re fiddling with their stinking cell phones when they should be driving. If you don’t think you’d make a good hood ornament, make yourself as obvious as possible on the roadside.
A pullover visibility vest with reflective strip. I’ve been happy to have it when I had to get out on a too-narrow shoulder.
Here’s a dandy little item, even better than jumper cables. At least in theory it’s better; I am happy to report I haven’t had to use it yet. It’s a very simple to use jumper battery. You charge it from your car battery and can use it to give yourself a jump start. It also has USB and cell-phone charger style outlets so you can charge devices from the battery. I put a note on my calendar to recharge it every three months; I just take 30 sec to refresh my memory on the instructions (so I won’t have to struggle with that in bad light on a dark and stormy night) and let it charge on the drive home from work. Easy peasy.
Compact kit with charger battery, cables, car jack and wall outlet power cords, USB outlet, and a USB to generic cell phone charger cable. iPhone users must bring their own cords, as usual. My unit likes its charge topped off every three months.
And there we have it; every bit of my ‘car kit’ born of some bad or was-almost-bad experience. Here’s hoping you thrive; and don’t have to learn everything the hard way.