Your Vehicle and Emergency Situations
Advertisement
The one thing in the world that none of us ever want to have to experience is having our car break down. It is unfortunate that our vehicles tend to malfunction when we least expect it. When your car breaks down, there are several things that you want to have before hand just in case. After all, it is better to be safe than sorry, right? That being said, when you have a car, you should always make sure that you have a little emergency kit packed and stowed somewhere in your vehicle for emergency situations.
In my own Jeep, I have a cheap plastic bin with a cover on it that I keep in the trunk area at all times. Inside of this bin is what I refer to as my emergency kit. Inside of the kit are: a pair of sweatpants, a sweatshirt, a couple of pairs of socks, gloves, an ice scraper, a first aid kit, a car kit (with a flashlight, camera, flares, etc.), a poncho, a couple of airplane blankets, and extra pair of sneakers, a couple of bottles of water, some dry, non-perishable food and a road atlas. Now, there are some people who may think that I am overdoing it when I tell them that I have all of these things packed, but the truth of the matter is that I spend a lot of time in my car on the road traveling long distances. For instance, because I am close to my family, I will often make a trip up to New York from North Carolina to see them. Additionally, I also go out to visit my grandmother who lives three hours away in another part of the state.
To give another example of why it is always a good idea to have an emergency kit with you when you travel; if you remember, a few years ago, North Carolina was hit with a pretty bad ice storm. The ice storm caused a lot of damage to power lines and knocked trees over, causing a great deal of property damage. However, when all of this weather began, people were rushing out of work early to get to their homes. The state of North Carolina was not prepared for the weather, and the roadways had not been salted. I was on my way back from Durham, NC and should’ve been home in what would normally have been a thirty minute drive. However, because of the heavy amount of traffic and the freezing snow that was falling, I wound up being stuck on the road for over eight hours!
I was only too thankful that I had enough gasoline to get me home, but in the meantime, I was starving. While I sat in what was ultimately a parking lot of traffic, I quickly ran around to my trunk and retrieved a couple of snacks and a bottle of water. Had I not been smart and filled up my Jeep with gasoline, I may have ran out of gas (like many other people did). In that case, I would have at least had a couple of blankets, gloves and sweatpants to throw on. You just never know, which is why it is smart to pack an emergency kit!