Vehicle Survival Kit
A vehicle survival kit will help keep you alive if you ever have some kind of roadside emergency. During winter or even in nicer weather, we hear about people who get stuck in the snow or run into an unpassable road and are pretty much left on their own. Those prepared will have a much easier time awaiting for help. They will also have the necessary survival supplies with them if they decide to reach safety on their own.
A Vehicle Survival Kit
Your vehicle survival kit should have shelter, a way to make fire, food, water, emergency blankets for everyone in the car or truck, and anything else that will make your time of distress easier to cope with. A shelter could come in the form of a tube tent, tarp, or a bivvy sack to keep the wind, rain, and other weather off of you. Fire starting methods can be any number of things such as waterproof and/or windproof matches, a magnesium fire stick, a cigarette lighter, or the popular military Spark-Lite Fire Starter. Be sure to have some emergency tinder with you. Emergency tinder is premade to easily accept a spark or flame in order to get a good fire going.
Emergency blankets also keep the cold off of you and protect you from rain and snow. You do not want to be wet when it is cold out. Being wet when it is cold will very quickly lead to hypothermia. Space blankets are small, compact, and lightweight blankets that reflect and retain your own body heat. The cheaper ones tear easily and once they do, they just keep on tearing. You want to have a quality emergency blanket with you. Heatsheets® emergency blankets are designed to last and will not tear easily. Further, if they do rip or get a hole in them, they will not continue to shred apart like lesser quality space blankets. In a survival situation, you do not want to compromise on quality. Especially when it is only a couple of dollars more.
Emergency food and water are a must if find yourself stranded in your car, truck, or other type of vehicle and you will be spending a night or more in place. Your vehicle survival kit should have enough food and water for everyone that normally rides in your vehicle. If you have children, it is that much more important. Everyone needs to keep motivated and have the energy reserves inside themselves to produce the heat needed to keep warm. Water is a regulator and is needed to help your body cope with stressful situations.
Other survival equipment you'd find helpful would be a shovel, some chem lights, a first aid kit, a whistle for signaling, and a knife. You probably don't want to carry a ton of stuff around with you everywhere, but bringing along the basics in a vehicle survival kit is prudent. Should you ever find yourself in a bad situation, at least you know you will survive.