Few of us think about Winter survival preparedness when it comes to our cars. For most of us, the short commute to the store or to work doesn’t register as dangerous most days. Even when the road conditions turn from bad to worse, we still don’t give much thought to an emergency situation happening.

But facts don’t lie. Triple A says that most Winter driving emergencies happen within 10 miles of your home and most of those are what the Drivers would consider “routine” trips. These routine trips turned into survival situations in a blink of an eye. Just before Christmas Ever, we had a huge snowstorm. A few days later a pickup was found covered up by snow just outside town. Inside was a local man who had frozen to death. Apparently he had went off the road and then the snow plows didn’t notice his white pickup and covered it up as they cleared the roads. Could you survive if your car ran off an embankment or you were stranded in a non-obvious place along the highway?

With a little emergency preparedness planning, you don’t have to become a statistic. A few items thrown into a bag and a few more items stored in your car may mean the difference between you surviving a Winter accident and being found in the Spring when the snow melts.

Here are a few things you’ll need should you find yourself in such a situation.

• Several warm blankets or Winter sleeping bags
• Some MRE’s with heaters
• Signal device. Whistles, blaze orange cloth, etc
• Fire making supplies, ie; waterproof matches, bic lighter, etc
• Flashlights and batteries
• Emergency “space” blankets
• Water
• ice melt or cat litter for tire traction
• Jumper cables
• Cell phone charger
• Glow sticks (great as a long burning emergency signal at night)

With just a little planning and honing of your survival skills, you won’t find yourself in a life or death situation if you run off the road this Winter!