ACCIDENTS - CONTINUEDCAR ESCAPE TOOLI found the type escape tool I have. It’s “Life Hammer Escape Hammer (Orange), 2 Pack $28.95 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping from Amazon.” Another choice is $14.95 for one Life Hammer. Made in the Netherlands.
I believe it’s a better hammer than the “Seatbelt Cutter Window Breaker Escape Tool” for $15.94 for two, or $9.95 for one. Made in China. (I’d rather give my money to The Netherlands than China especially since I think the one from the Netherlands is better.)
The Life Hammer will be easy to find as it is orange and stands out. There is a holder for it so you can mount the holder but that requires drilling a hole and I’m not drilling my car. I have one in the storage holder on each front door. You could put just one in the console between the front seats then both the driver and passenger can access the tool and that sounds like the a good place to store it.
Some are putting them in the glove box but that is too far away from the driver – I would have a problem reaching that far, then have to open the glove box.
Some are putting it under the seat but no way am I doing that because it could move about plus my arms are barely long enough to reach the beginning of the underneath of the seat.
One other way is to get heavy duty Velcro that has stickum on the backs of both tapes and stick one part where you want it, then stick the other part on the hammer and attach to the strip you stuck on the car. One fellow has his that way and it was stuck on the left side below the steering wheel and that’s a good place to store it, just reach forward and rip it off the Velcro. That sounds ideal – one movement and it’s in your hand.
It seemed most customers bought these after they heard of someone dying because they couldn’t get out of the car. The driver either drowned or burned up because they couldn’t get out.
VERY IMPORTANT: This tool, like all the rest, WILL NOT BREAK A WINDSHIELD. That glass is different than glass in the doors. One strike from the tool on a side window and the glass breaks but that will not happen to the windshield.
CELL PHONE:You can’t call for help in your car if you don’t have your charged cell phone in the car. I don’t use my cell phone except when my sister-in-law calls my cell because I don’t give that number out. I only use it if I have to call outside my area code. It stays plugged in and I wouldn’t remember to take it with me when I left the house. So, I stuck a post-it note on the back of my front door that says, “CELL PHONE” so I’ll see it before I go out the door. That way I get it. If you have this problem, too, stick a note on the door. I do have its car charger in the car (a lot of good that would do me if I didn’t have the phone with me). It will be charged when I leave the house since it stays plugged in.
FIRST AID KIT:You need a first aid kit in your car. I went to Walmart some months ago with the express purpose to buy travel sizes of various products like shampoo, soap, hair spray, etc., thinking of those as barter items. Among the travel size items was a Johnson & Johnson first aid kit in a small plastic box (it’s 3 ½ inches square and 1 inch deep). They were so cheap, I bought several, thinking of those for my purpose and for barter. I put one of those in the car glove compartment. I haven’t even read on the plastic box to see what is in it. I now have one in my hand and it says on the front, “Goes with your gym bag, backpack, luggage, purse.” It says there are 12 items in the box. The contents are: 2 hand cleansing wipes, 4 first aid gauze pads, 2 flexible adhesive bandages (3/4 inch x 3 inch), 4 flexible fabric adhesive bandages (5/8 inch x 2 ¼ inch), and one durable plastic case. There is extra room in the case to add several more items. I need to put an envelope of Celox (blood stopper) in there. That little case is not much, but it is something if you have nothing now and it’s cheap and in the travel size items at Walmart. A large size first aid kit in the car is great if you can do that.
The accident that happened to my friend caused me to think of a body wrap to help prevent the body from moving. If you recall, he had bruised ribs but you wouldn’t know if the ribs were broken. A fairly tight body wrap around his rib cage (but not tight enough to push broken ribs around) would tend to stop the body from twisting/moving to prevent further damage if ribs were broken and we know now, the area around the ribs on one side was bruised, no broken ribs, so a wrap preventing movement might/should lessen his pain.
Several days ago, I almost threw away multiple body wraps and bandages of all sizes. I have been “cleaning out” to get rid of things I don’t need anymore. I have a stack of sheets representing many years of buying sheets and I don’t use most of these anymore. Right now, they are stacked on a bed for me to go through to get rid of the ones I will never use again – except now I’m not throwing them away.
Those old sheets can be cut into any size bandage/arm wrap/leg wrap/body wrap, I might need. Easy to cut an arm sling when needed, elevate a leg or arm and use a strip of sheet to hold it up. I’ll put these in the back of my closet so they will be there for a short time/long time emergency.
I’ll also put one in my car along with a pair of cheap scissors and DUCT TAPE so I can cut what I need if the occasion arises. In my friend’s case, I would cut a wide strip, the length of his chest and long enough to wrap around him, to lessen movement, and I would secure it with the duct tape.
CUT CHIN:There is no doctor, no medical clinic, so you have to do something about this cut chin. I would use pressure to control the bleeding chin until I could get the patient home. I’ve said before I’m not stitching a wound as it would be too painful without anesthetic. A chin is not a straight line exactly, there are curves. First, of course, clean the wound of blood, use hydrogen peroxide if you have it. If the chin is still pouring blood, put Celox on it to stop the bleeding. If you don’t have Celox, order it right now. I have spoken about Celox in another article, saying where to get it. After bleeding is controlled, put on antibiotic ointment, and in this case, I’d use Steri-Strips to close the chin wound (pull the two sides of the skin together) as those strips are flexible and will move with the chin. Put on enough strips to seal the cut from end to end well. A solid bandage can be put over the wound to keep out dirt, etc., and the solid bandage should be taken off after a couple of days so air can get to it to dry it out.
The other method I have to close a wound is a stapler (I think that would be awkward on a chin and believe Steri-Strips would be best). I don’t think I have written about a sterile stapler and a staple puller and no, it’s not your usual stapler you use at home. Here is stapler/staple puller information:
There are multiple surgical sterile skin staplers and staple removers on Amazon. Put in “surgical skin stapler” in their search and they will come up. Each one is in a sterile package and the stapler must be thrown away after one use as it will not be sterile if used again. One stapler is about $7.95. You may also buy a kit of multiple staplers plus a staple remover included. There are also single staple removers. You may use the remover over and over. Determine which stapler and remover is right for you.
PAIN:A decision of yours would be what pain medicine to give your family member with a painful cut chin and painful chest. You have some kind of pain reliever now, over the counter and maybe you have a prescribed pain reliever for a family member. Consider the family member’s age and amount of pain and safety of the medicine for that individual before you make your choice of a pain reliever. Tylenol and aspirin and Naproxen (like Aleve), are over the counter meds to have in your pain reliever arsenal.
WATER, FOOD, BLANKET(S), CARBON MONOXIDE:What is in your car to save your life if you find yourself in a desolated area and the car won’t run for whatever reason? I have a backpack that stays in the car trunk (Life Gear’s Wings of Life), that has water, food, a thermal blanket and many other items needed in such a situation. In this accident case, the thermal blanket could be used if the family member in the accident, was cold or in shock.
Thermal blankets are cheap - keep enough in your car for each family member to have one. These are on Amazon: “ER Emergency Ready Thermal Mylar Blankets”, Pack of 4, $5.76. Here is the description: (84 x 52), “Provides compact emergency protection in all weather conditions by reflecting back and retaining 90-Percent of a survival victim's body heat. Can be used to prevent and counter hypothermia by reducing heat loss from a person's body. Can be used to cover injured victims in order to help reduce shock. Can be used in a hot environment to provide shade as a shelter barrier. Reusable, waterproof and windproof.”
See, leave off buying a large Starbucks café latte coffee with extra foam, for one day and you will likely have the $5.76, to buy FOUR blankets. Sorry, I just took $5.76 from Starbucks, but they can afford to lose that money and you can’t afford to be without a blanket for each family member. If you feel badly for Starbucks losing this money, the next time you go to one, thank them for your thermal blankets.
WHAT CAN HAPPEN TO KILL YOU IF THE CAR IS RUNNING TO STAY WARM? When your car is traveling down the road, carbon monoxide gas is coming out of the tail pipe - that carbon monoxide is moving away from the car as it goes down the road. If you are stranded and keep the car running to have the heater on, and there is a leak of carbon monoxide in your exhaust system, you can end up with that in your car and it is odorless, you can’t smell it. You will get a headache and symptoms get worse from there. Therefore, have a window cracked to let in fresh air. You will be tempted not to do that as that air is cold, but it’s important to protect your life and anyone else in the car, so deal with a little cold air when the car is stopped but running for a length of time.
I recall a true story about being poisoned by carbon monoxide getting in a car and the situation was this: The fellow was stuck in a snow drift and he kept the car running to stay warm. The snow drift outside the back of the car was right up to the exhaust pipe and that forced the gas to drift forward, the only way it could go and it got in the car. That was like running your car in a closed garage. It was an unlikely scenario but it happened. I think I remember the man died. He couldn’t smell the gas and didn’t know that was happening to him.
A NATURAL GAS SAD STORY THAT SAVES LIVES NOW: Natural gas has no smell, either. However, now a smell is infused into the gas so one can smell it. In 1937, I was four years old. I heard my parents talking about an explosion that just happened at New London School in Texas which was about 15 - 20 miles from our house. My parents put me in the car and we went there to see what happened. I remember seeing clothes hanging on fence posts as we got within a few miles of that area. The closer we got, the more clothes I saw everywhere. That part is what I remember – all those clothes. There had been a gas leak but no one knew the gas was building up since it had no smell. A huge explosion happened and 425 students and teachers were killed – the school was laid open, destroyed. There is a large monument in New London with all the names of the children/adults killed that day.
It is that explosion that caused a smell to be put in natural gas. If you have natural gas in your house, those children/adults being blown up is the reason you can smell that gas.
