If you're searching for “what items should be in a roadside emergency kit?” consider the following categories:
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- Tools items
- First aid items
- Towing and breakdowns items
- Comfort items
- Emergency supplies items
- Season specific items
- Water and food
- Home bag items
Since vehicles are important elements in our daily life, it's not rare to deal with vehicles breakdowns at some point in time. Whether it was you who had to deal with an emergency or probably a friend or a family member, you can't imagine how handy it is to have some emergency tools to help you get out of the situation and get back to driving without waiting longer times for the roadside assistance service to come.
Depending on your goals and needs, the roadside emergency kit might differ significantly. Therefore, this article walks you through a detailed list of must-have elements in your vehicle to get you out of an emergency quickly without needing to spend hundreds of dollars to request roadside assistance.
Keep in mind that the list has some very central elements, but also it has items that you might not necessarily need depending on your driving experience and goals. Therefore, we recommend that you go through the list and identify items you think will be very handy in your vehicle.
What items should be in a roadside emergency kit?
Your emergency kit will be a customized thing that depends on your driving goals. For example, if you are preparing an emergency kit for your vacation road trip, you'll have different elements that someone else who's using his vehicle for a daily commute to work or to drive kits this court.
Since preparing roadside emergency kits requires an investment, you must evaluate whether you need this item or not and whether it is common to deal with such problems around your area. For example, some elements might be suitable for driving in cold weather conditions, whereas others are very useful to get you out of emergencies and hot summer areas. Thus, whatever works for you should directly go into your work roadside emergency kit.
Let's take a closer look at what items should be in a roadside emergency kit? We divided these items into different subcategories covering tools, first aid, towing and breakdowns, comforts, emergency supplies, season-specific, water and food, and home bags items.
1. Tools items
The first category covers essential tools that you need to have in your vehicle.
A good quality knife
You'll need to have at least one or two knives that you can use to cut the seat belt or probably breaking windows in cases of emergencies. Obviously, you can still use the hard rest and rely on the middle spikes to break the windows. Not having an extra knife is very helpful.
A fire extinguisher
The fire extinguisher might be a requirement in your vehicle, depending on your vehicle's type and your state's regulations. However, even if it's not required, he had to have a fire distinguisher in cases always fires, not only to help.
Flashlights
In some instances, it's not always clear to check on the vehicle, and having a flashlight can be extremely helpful. Many more experts recommended keeping a working flashlight, especially if you lived in areas with lots of expected hurricanes or other natural disasters.
A USB charger
If you are planning to drive long distances, having a USB charger can be very helpful to keep your phone fully charged so you can use it if needed.
A tire pressure gauge
Monitoring your vehicle's tire pressure is critical socially if you're driving in the winter or extremely hot summer season. Therefore, consider purchasing a small tire pressure gauge to check on the tires when needed.
Other tools
While the mentioned tools are considered essential in any vehicle, there are some other tools that you might want to purchase as optional and depending on your budget and your driving goals. For instance, you might want to buy apparel codes, pepper spray, basic or advanced toolkits, etc.
2. First aid items
The second category covers the first aid essential items that you need to have in your vehicle. Again, there are plenty of available first aid kits in larger retailers or online. Depending on how many people are driving on your vehicle and how long the trip is expected to be, you might decide on one type of first aid kit versus the other.
When choosing the first aid kit, consider the one that has at least something to control serious bleeding, head injuries, burns, broken bones, etc. Furthermore, if you know that you rely on a specific medication you can't stay without for a long time, consider having extra of those medications and a set of inhalers and other feminist supplies.
3. Towing and breakdowns items
The third category covers important elements you'll need when towing your vehicle or dealing with breakdowns.
Jump cables
Jump cables can come extremely handy in cases of dead battery situations. You can choose between a more expensive jump cable with a standalone power source or a simple jump cable that relies on another vehicle to get your card charged.
Work gloves
Yes, you might get in situations where you need heavy-duty work gloves and relying on simple gloves is not enough. There are many chemicals in your vehicle and some fluids that might be toxic to you, which means that you need to have a specific type of gloves. Also, some areas might have extremely hot components or another type of specific situation where you need to have heavy-duty working gloves.
Tire iron
Tire iron can come very handy and depending on your car; it might already have a single arm tire iron. Check what new vehicle needs and bring an extra one.
Reflective vests
When dealing with cars breakdowns on the highway, having a reflective vest can come extremely handy. Especially if your emergency happens during that time, it could be hard for other people to see you on their own, which puts your life at risk.
Road flares and reflective triangles
Like the previously mentioned points, when you get stuck on the highway, and there are not enough road lights, you can't rely on the reflective vests to make you more visible and allow other people to see you.
4. Comfort items
Other items to include in your roadside kit are personal hygiene and personal comfort items. Regarding personal hygiene, you'll be surprised how useful it is to have a set of toilet paper as a role or probably in a zip lock bag.
Also, consider having some compression tissue that you might need, especially if you have kits with you on the right. Finally, don't forget to put a set of toothbrushes, flosses, and toothpaste in cases of long waiting times in your vehicle.
When it comes to personal comfort elements, it would be a great idea to have things to keep you warm, like a wool blanket or probably an emergency blanket depending on where you are driving. Also, consider having a small pillow that you can't keep in the trunk of your vehicle. If you have multiple people driving in the car, you don't want to get each one a set of pillows, which can be too much to put in your car and take a lot of space.
5. Emergency supplies items
Emergency supplies vary significantly depending on who's driving, and the type of people are driving with you, along with where you are heading. Here are some examples of good items included as part of your emergency supplies:
- Duct tape
- A high-quality backpacks
- Batteries
- Garbage bags
- Radiator fluid container
- Windshield washer fluid
- Wiper blades
- Most wiper
- Towel wrap
- Waterproof matches
- Multifunction whistle
Some of these items might be essential, like the radiator fluid container, the windshield wipers, etc. However, other items might not be extremely necessary, like the multifunction was so or the garbage bags. Therefore, you can customize what works and what doesn't work for you, depending on your budget.
6. Season specific items
There are some items that you won't need in every season, which means that it's optional depending on where you live and your destination.
For example, there are some common items that you'll need if you are driving in areas with very hot summer temperatures. These items include walking shoes, rain poncho, light-colored clothes, sun hat, more water, bug spray, emergency blankets or shades, sunscreen lotion, etc.
On the other hand, you might need a specific kit that you will use for winter. There are plenty of available kits compiled together that you can find and purchase online. However, you can also customize your own by including a full set of cools, probably, a jacket, walking shoes or boots for winter, different shirts that fit the season, such out.
7. Water and food
Although if you're driving for a short distance, you never know what could happen, and therefore, it doesn't hurt to keep extra water and some food that doesn't expire fast in your vehicle.
Some people recommended having a LifeStraw that you can rely on and use from far away. Also, have extra water in your vehicle in a container that doesn't freeze. A good recommendation would be to leave at least 15 to 25% of your water bottle empty in cold weather that could freeze the water. Consider putting these water bottles inside a Ziploc bag to help maintain the temperature and make it as flexible as possible to use.
According to experts, you need at least two water bottles for each person in your vehicle in cases of emergencies.
8. Home bag items
Finally, even if you have all dimension elements in the previous sections, you'll still want to have a home bag where you put important items in one location. There are plenty of available ready home bags that you can purchase online, but you might want to customize yours based on your own needs and who's with you in the vehicle, especially if you have kits.
Conclusion
Most of us had to deal with car breakdowns suddenly when driving. Creating a collection of roadside assistant kits gets you out of the emergencies fast without any hassle. But, of course, your roadside emergency kit might differ significantly from someone else. Therefore, you must customize your own and decide which elements and items to keep that work for you.
This article highlighted a long list of items to keep in your roadside emergency kits. These items were broken down into different categories, including the tools, the first aid, the tolling, the comforts, the emergency, the season-specific, the water and fluid, and the home back.
Of course, if your vehicle is not a good condition, none of the mentioned kits can help you get out of the emergency. In other words, your vehicle needs to have at least a base level of mechanical condition, so you don't get to the emergencies in the first place. However, notice that your car has major mechanical problems. It might be the right time to explore selling your car and using its value towards a better vehicle where it is worth having a roadside emergency kit.
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