Posted: 8/5/2007 1:37:12 PM EDT
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Last week my wife was in a serious car wreck. While she was unhurt except for some soreness and bruising, it could have been a bad situation. It was single car accident at night in a very rural area and her car was upside down in thick brush at the bottom of a steep bank. She could not get any of the doors open, and her car wasn't at all visible from the road. She was only able to escape from the car by breaking a window with a rescue tool I had mounted to the side of the center console. Naturally, the situation made me think of the worst case scenarios and what would be required to escape, survive, and get help in the event of a bad wreck. I'm not talking about tools and supplies kept in the trunk for car problems or BOB, but something accessible to the driver form the front seat. This is what I put together for her to keep strapped to the drivers seat. 2-half liter bottles of water 3-packs of tuna 3-granola bars First Aid Kit (Bandages, ointments, antiseptics, first aid manual, painkillers, electrolyte tablets, tourniquet, tweezers, lighter, safety pins, scissors, compression wrap, splint kit, etc.) Disposable poncho Mylar blanket Signal whistle Personal alarm with built in LED light Surefire G2 with spare batteries Chap stick S.O.S. sign Swiss Army knife Cyalume stick Rescue tool with glass breakers and seat belt cutter Chemical warming packs Cash The kit is housed in a large insulated nylon lunch bag and is strapped to the driver's seat for easy access.  
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Nice kit. Make sure it is secured to something sturdy. I survived two rollover accidents, One of them I was on a remote access road in the central Adirondacks. I slid off the road on black ice at night and rolled over down an embankment in 10 degree weather. The doors were stuck shut, and I thought I was going to have to shoot out the window. Untill I realized that the power windows still worked  .I told you that to tell you this. Make sure anything you want to find after a roll over is tied down to somthing really solid. I had gear strewn about the cab while I was hanging upside down. Stuff that I thought was wedged in or properly contained was all over the cab. |