What Should be in My Vehicles Emergency Kit

Australians are well known for preparing for the unexpected. This is important when you are preparing your new vehicle or getting your old one ready for a road trip or service. Every car should contain an emergency kit. If you are unsure of what to put in your emergency kit simply follow the list below for ideas and options to ensure that you are prepared for any situation.

 

First Aid Kit

Your vehicle should always contain a first aid kit. This kit should contain at least one triangle bandage, eye pads and dressings, sterilizing wipes, band-aids or plasters, tweezers, scissors, bandages, a CPR shield, sterile gloves, and gauze. you should keep all these items together in one easy to grab bag and keep it organized so in case of an emergency you are not spending time rummaging around looking for the item that you need.

 

Tools

There are several tools that we recommend always keeping in your vehicle. This list includes, a fire extinguisher, a spare tire, wheel wrench and jack, a compass, a radio that does not require charging or batteries, a torch, jumper cables, and a multi-purpose utility tool.

 

Items for accidents

There are several items and that you should keep in your vehicle in case you come across, or are involved in, a roadside accident. These items include an emergency hammer in case you need to break into someone’s vehicle to get a person out, a safety vest – preferably one that is yellow or orange and has high visibility strips so you can be seen if you need to direct traffic, hazard lights and collapsible cones so you can guide traffic around a vehicle or people who may have been thrown out of vehicles in case of an accident, and strong gloves in case you need to move glass or sharp bits of metal to get to someone in order to save their life. Unfortunately, car accidents do happen and if you are driving on an isolated road, you having this equipment could be the difference between someone else’s life or death.

 

Miscellanies items.  

There are many items and that you should carry depending on where you are driving. If you are traveling in WA, you should carry a can of brightly colored spray paint preferably pink or orange. This is to be used when you pass a female kangaroo on the side of the road. Locals, especially in the Southwest region, will cheek dead Kangaroos pouches to ensure that there are no joeys left inside. If there are joeys who are alive, they will take them and drop them off at the nearest animal center. They will also mark the Kangaroos pouch with a cross using the spray paint to let other drivers know that the kangaroo has been checked for joeys.

If you are traveling in the Outback or other desert regions you should take enough clean fresh water for each occupant to survive for three days. This is a minimum of three liters per person per day. That means if you are traveling with four people you should have 12 liters of clean drinking water. You should also take windscreen and window covers so if you are stuck or get trapped you can reduce the amount of sunlight and heat entering the vehicle. 

 

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