Vehicle preparedness is something we all have to consider. It doesn’t matter if you’re a prepper or an average Joe, accidents happen all the time. As you can imagine, vehicle preparedness is more than having a bug out bag or get home bag in the back of your truck. Today we will discuss the essentials of vehicle preparedness, something we should all do.
The decision to carry all your survival gear in your car may be influenced by many factors. Some live in an isolated area where things don’t always go as planned, while others just want to have it in reach. The thing about putting all your eggs in one basket is that you will starve if they get stolen or damaged.
Common sense should be applied for vehicle preparedness as well since you cannot prepare for every scenario. Rather than trying to cover everything you can think of, try to pack your vehicle according to the realistic scenarios and multiple redundant layers of protection.
Vehicles Preparedness Essentials
Always have an ICE tag
When the brown stuff hits the fan, people will panic and there will be chaos. While your vehicle can protect you and get your family to safety, accidents can always happen. Even when you go to the grocery store, you could be hit by a drunk driver or a distracted teen. Let’s assume you are unconscious after an accident, do you have any sort of identification on you?
During a car accident, your wallet may literally fly out the window or get lost inside the car. I have an “In case of emergency” (ICE) envelope that would help me and other greatly in case I get into an accident and I’m no longer conscious.
The envelope contains written health instruction, a copy of my driver’s license and emergency contact information. I also labeled it clearly using a red marker to make large and bright letters. This will help first responders and it will shorten the time required for identifying me, overall improving my situation.
Think about a Hard-shell Tent
If you live in an isolated area or if you love the great outdoors like me, a hard-shell tent is ideal and it will improve your chances of survival. Most people die because they abandon their cars to seek help. However, you should know that if you leave your car, you need to have some fire-starting and sheltering skills to keep your core temperature.
The majority of folks do not have these skills, and for them, it’s much easier to shelter in the car with some basic vehicle preparedness strategies.
Frist of all, you should understand the temperature inside your vehicle can be changed with minimal preparation. Even an emergency blanket can be taped inside the cabin, from the ceiling to the driver side and passenger-side windows to the floor. Make sure the reflective side is facing you to retain body heat.
Suggested article: Tips For Choosing A Survival Tent For Your Bug Out Plan
You can also improvise a small stove from a soda or paint can by making a few ventilation holes and placing an emergency candle inside. This will help raise the temperature inside the car. However, you need to make sure you crack at least one window to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. If there are other persons with you, make sure you place the stove can in a place where it cannot be accidentally knocked over.
Another thing to mention is that you will need to elevate your feet to prevent cold air lowering your body’s temperature. If you keep your feet at pedals level, where the cold air is, you will have a hard time warming yourself. Try to sleep across your seat rather than in line with it.
Vehicle preparedness and self-defense
While your vehicle can help you get out of a disaster zone and move quickly to help, there is always the unexpected factor you have to consider. Being stuck on a road or having it break down in a bad area is a possible scenario. This is why the topic of self-defense needs to be debated even when it comes to vehicle preparedness.
While certain firearms cannot be carried in plain sight to defend yourself, there are always tricks you can use to deter foes and other unfriendly elements of society.
You can keep a glove filled with pocket change on the dashboard and use it as an improvised weapon. Even more, rather than using chemical agents, try to carry a stun gun or even learn how to work a fire extinguisher. It can be a useful item for self-defense, besides putting out engine fires.
Having a basic .22 LR rifle and a couple of dozen rounds of round-point ammunition can highly improve your chances of survival when you’re on the road. It has great accuracy and improved range, and you can also use it for hunting in case needed.
Vehicles preparedness and communication
Contacting the outside world can be difficult if you get stranded and I honestly believe that communication can never be overrated. While relaying on your phone and staying connected all the time on social media is not necessarily a good thing, using it for survival can save the day. There are all sorts of apps that can teach you a thing or two about survival or help you get in contact with the right people.
You can even load your phone with survival books and instructional videos to increase your chances of making it out alive. After saying this, it makes sense carrying the necessary recharging accouterments and battery packs for your phone. Even more, I suggest picking a quality solar charger as it will never fail you.
Besides your phone, having a small emergency radio equipped with USB ports to charge electronics off the turbine makes it a good option for your vehicle preparedness plans. Besides these options, make sure your GPS using is updated and has the last software version available. Otherwise, you will depend on out of date instructions and maps.
If you don’t like to depend on GPS and you’re one of the old-timers, make sure you carry maps to cross-reference any directions given by the GPS. Just make sure you keep your maps within reach.
Disaster scale
When most people hear the word disaster, they think of a large-scale event like a tornado or blizzard. As I’ve said it before, disasters don’t have to be large-scale events to have devastating effects on a person or family. The end of the world looks different for every one of us and what may seem like a tragedy for me might look like a statistic to you.
Related reading: What Does The End Of The World Mean For Preppers?
Rather than thinking of doomsday, think of that event that may force you to bug out and you may not be able to go back home. Since we established that it’s unwise to keep all your emergency supplies in one place, you need another strategy to make sure you have the basics to survive. Vehicle preparedness implies to have your car ready to get from point A to point B safely, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to make stops to resupply or rest.
Think about making some small caches along the way, containing the essentials, such as small amount of cash, photocopies of important documents, even a spare set of clothes can be useful and dry shoes, an emergency blanket and some food rations.
Conclusion
When considering what to stock your vehicle with, be realistic with your vehicle preparedness plans and survival supplies. Think about how much time you spend in your vehicle and where you travel to. How to keep your vehicle in good shape and yourself healthy while on the road.
While vehicle preparedness is an important task to take care of, it’s just a first layer of preparedness. What you carry on you can be the second layer and what you have at work or home can be the third layer. And last but not least, what skills and knowledge you have, is the most important layer or emergency preparedness.
Useful resources to check out:
Learn how to Safeguard your Home against Looters
Find Out What’s the Closest Nuclear Bunker to Your Home
Knowledge to survive any medical crisis situation
A Green Beret’s guide to combat and shooting
The vital self-sufficiency lessons our great grand-fathers left us