Vehicle

Your Vehicle. HUGE TOPIC!

This is probably one of the biggest areas to discuss in the ways of emergency preparedness. After all, you spend plenty of time at home, but for most people, getting anywhere else starts with travel in your vehicle. Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, it's got to be ready for all seasons. Near home? Far away? It needs to be ready! If you live in an area where you take urban transit frequently, but own a vehicle, this still applies, but of course to a lesser extent. 

One good place to start might be to consider what geographic area you spend most of your time in. If you're an over the road truck driver, you might be all across the nation on a weekly basis. If you work from home and live in a medium size town with most of the ammenities, maybe you spend a majority of your time within close proximity of your house. Census.gov https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-travel-time-to-work-rises.html indicates for 2019 the average one way commute for americans is 27.6 minutes. Just to make that easier math, call it a half hour. That's an hour per day travelling to work and back. At 60mph, that would mean work is less than 30 miles away. So it seems a good place to start might be with scenario planning for difficulties that occur within 30 miles of home. 

What type of climate do you live in?

Maybe there are a few factors you could think about:

Hot climate

Bursting containers in vehicles

Heat threats to kids left in vehicles

Heat threats to pets left in vehicles

Burns from touching parts of the car

Battery fluid being low

Staying cool when stranded

Staying hydrated

Cold Climate

Snow Removal

Ice Removal

Icy Roads

Snowy Roads

Frozen liquids in vehicle

Staying warm when stranded

Road Salts advancing vehicle corrosion preventing things to work

Wet Climate

Rain all the time

Mold/mildew

Advanced corrosion on vehicle

Dry Climate

Staying hydrated

What type of topography do you live in?

Flat landers

Nothing. life is good.

Mountainous

Falling damage for vehicles offroad

Steep angle recovery of vehicle off road

Lower oxygen content

Lower population density for assistance

Whats the population density where you expect to be?

Low population density

Less people/resources available to help

Lower density of cell phone towers/less cell signal

High population density

More people looking into your vehicle with nephareous intents

These are all just ticklers to get you to think about different threats you might encounter, and what you might do to minimize your risk for each one. For instance if you live in a low population density area that has less cell signal or cell outages, you might consider some sort of satellite communication, such as a satellite phone or a newer iphone with satellite emergency messageing built in. The preparations are up to you.