Parenthood will make a pragmatist out of you, whether you like it or not, but even the most pragmatic of us is prone to overlooking some of the smallest details in the planning our daily lives, which could go on to prove to be crucial if not critical. As a result, even if the instinct you can otherwise rely on will ordinarily be enough to ensure you have everything planned out properly in the event of something like an emergency that befalls your family while on a road-trip, you’d rather be safe than sorry. It is important you make sure that before you set off your vehicle/s are roadworthy and safe. If you are going on a long trip with a lot of luggage, you won’t want it piled in the car as that can be a safety issue too, so you could check out toy haulers for sale to see what is available and have that fixed to your car with your luggage. You’ll need to do full safety checks before setting off, so make sure to incorporate that into your plan too.
You’d rather make sure to go through a pre-compiled checklist of all the safety measures to cover, even if you go on to find out that you thought of and covered everything in a way that a seasoned person does in their sleep! The whole thinking behind the encouragement of this kind of extra vigilance is that the likelihood is you’ve probably never actually had the misfortune of experiencing something like a car breakdown as a typical emergency to have to contend with while out on a family road-trip, so you can never really know what is actually required to account for a preparation procedure that covers absolutely everything.
So, with all of that in mind, what exactly makes for the ultimate emergency breakdown kit?
The trick to it is trying to go through the motions of what you’d instinctively try and do to rectify the situation you find yourself in, so you’d have to picture some of the items you would utilise. Fortunately it’s not that difficult, such as how you would probably be able to solve pretty much all problems by calling for some help. Whether you would be dialling an emergency helpline number, getting in touch with your insurer, calling roadside assistance, or indeed if you would want to use some kind of app to organise some help in this way, you can’t do any of this if your phone’s battery is flat, can you?
That’s why something like a rechargeable power bank or any other back-up power source tops the list of items making up the ultimate kit for emergency breakdowns. While help is on the way however, or perhaps even before you can collect your thoughts and call for help in that way, you might need to navigate your immediate surroundings and make sure to secure your safety and that of the other passengers.
An emergency hammer or seatbelt cutter should therefore be included in the kit, along with a torch, warm clothing and blankets, food and water, and a first-aid kit. Seatbelts are very important for safety, so in the instance that you do need to use a seatbelt cutter, it is important that you have it repaired as soon as possible, through websites like https://www.safetyrestore.com/seat-belt-repair-service/9-seat-belt-repair.html.
Just how much of the full complement of items you will actually use will depend on the severity of the road-side emergency, so you might not need to use other items which should be included nevertheless, such as a high-visibility jacket, reflective warning signs, a jumpstart battery pack, snow-gear (snow shovel and boots), an ice-scraper, a puncture repair kit, and a paper map.
The worst time to find out that you really need any of these is in the actual situation in which you need them.