5 Items Every Driver Should Have in Their Vehicle

This past weekend, I had the unfortunate experience to see several car accidents and witness a biker lose control and flip his bike as he hit a guardrail. He will live. I was able to administer aid until the paramedics arrived.

The events of the weekend got me to thinking about the things I carry in my truck at all times. Listed below is 5  items to keep in your vehicle that I feel everyone should have in your vehicle.

5 Items to keep in your vehicle

1)      A useful first aid kit. By useful I mean one that has the things you will need when you need them and most importantly some basic knowledge of how to the items in kit.

The Red Cross recommends that all first aid kits for a family of four include the following:

• 2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
• 25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
• 1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
• 5 antibiotic ointment packets (approximately 1 gram)
• 5 antiseptic wipe packets
• 2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)
• 1 space blanket, more on this later.
• 1 breathing barrier (with one-way valve)
• 1 instant cold compress
• 2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
• 2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (approximately 1 gram each)
• Scissors
• 1 roller bandage (3 inches wide)
• 1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
• Oral thermometer (non-mercury/nonglass)
• 2 triangular bandages
• Tweezers
• First aid instruction booklet

The kit in my truck and the smaller one I carry in my pack have basically what is listed in the Red Cross List, except for a few more items like more band aids of various sizes and burn ointment.

2)                The second item that everyone should have stored in the vehicle is a wool blanket. The uses go beyond keeping warm when stuck on the highway over night resulting from a closed road from a storm or accident. A wool blanket works great for laying on the ground and kneeling on when changing a flat tire or having to crawl under the vehicle for some reason. I used mine last weekend for the injured biker to lay his head on to get his face off the pavement as we waited for the paramedics to arrive. Others uses include draping over the seat to keep it clean if you become wet or dirty for some reason or it can even be cut into strips and used it stop bleeding.

3)      A flashlight with good batteries. Over the years I’ve gone from carrying one of those old big 4 D battery mag lights to a few inexpensive LED flashlights stuffed in the door pockets. Usually there is one in the driver’s door pocket and one in the passenger’s door.

4)      If you drive a 4×4 and have ever been to an off-road park or on an organized trail ride, there is one thing always mentioned as having to be in the vehicle. That is a fire extinguisher. Typically used in most vehicles is an ABC 2.5 pound sized fire extinguisher. The small size makes it easy to find a mounting location that is out of the way but still quickly accessible by the driver. Mine is located on the floor between the driver’s seat and door. I am also planning to install a second larger 5 pound fire extinguisher in the bed of the truck.

5)      The last item is one item I rarely see in other vehicles but since I discovered this little item, I firmly believe everyone should have it in their vehicle. The LifeHammer is a small tool that quickly and easily shatters a vehicle window and has a protected blade to cut through a seat belt to free a trapped passenger. Most likely none of us will ever need the $15.00 tool but if you do ever need it, it will be the best $15.00 ever spent.

Of course the list could go on and on. I keep many more items in my vehicle like jumper cables, a change of clothes, a vinyl tarp, and a knife for example. We never know what will happen around the next corner whether we are on a cross country trek or just coming home from work. I firmly believe that by having these five simple things in our vehicles what could have been a disaster is kept to an interesting dinner story.