Car Safety Kit for Road Tripping

By: Jennifer Cassetta

The summer may be coming to an end but that doesn’t mean that your road trips have to stop. Whether you’re traveling along the coast for an end-of-summer beach vacation or heading to the lake for a long weekend, road-tripping safety can be easily prepared for in advance and is just as important as packing your suitcase.

Keeping a car safety kit in your car allows you to be prepared for an emergency or unfortunate situation. Whether you have a new or old car, having the following items in your car safety kit can help you in emergencies such as crashes, break-downs, break-ins, and attempted assaults.

1. Mace Brand Utility Knife

This genius multi-purpose tool is a must have for any car safety kit. It has a seatbelt cutting tool if you or a passenger was stuck with locked seatbelts after an accident. And, of course, it has a durable, stainless steel blade that can cut through difficult objects. Perhaps you will need to cut clothing off of an injured person or cut through sticks or branches that have gotten lodged somewhere, keeping this utility knife on you can be a life saver.

2. Non-perishable snacks

Snack bars or protein bars are great food items that can be stashed away in your car safety kit or even in the glove department. If you and/or your kids are ever stranded and hungry, a nutritious bar can keep the hanger away.

2. Water for drinking

Having at least a gallon of clean water in the car at all times is an important part of the road trip safety checklist. I recommend keeping it in a non-toxic, non-plastic container. Plastic water bottles will leach toxic chemicals into the water when exposed to hot temperatures. If ever stranded far from a town or convenient store, having water to keep you hydrated until help arrives is helpful to keep you coherent.

4. First aid kit

A first aid kit is necessary for every road trip safety checklist, but especially when you have kids. If ever hurt or injured, having at least the basics like anti-bacterial wash and bandages can keep a victim from dangerous bleeding wounds while waiting on an ambulance or heading to the hospital or urgent care.

5. Jumper cables

This should be an obvious road trip safety checklist item for everyone who drives and who does not have a AAA membership.

6. Duct tape

Because, you just never know.

7. Flashlight & extra batteries

Needing to see in the dark is important and so is having extra batteries in case!

8. Mace Brand pepper spray

I always carry a pepper spray product with me in my car. I’ve heard too many stories of women being pulled over by someone impersonating a police officer or being car-jacked. Keeping it with you inside the car and not in the trunk is key.

9. Warm blanket:

You never know when you may need to car camp unexpectedly. Keeping toasty with a warm blanket will make a night in the car that much better.

For cold weather road-tripping there are a few more items to keep handy in your car safety kit:

• A windshield ice scraper to combat frost and snow
• Cat litter which works like gravel to help you get out of a slippery icy road situation

We want to hear from you! Have you ever been in a car emergency? What were the items that you are thankful that you had in your car safety kit and/or what do you wish you did have that you didn’t?