STAY SAFE: DRIVING!!

Many times we hear about attacks on vehicles, thefts, burglaries, kidnappings, and all of this seems to be unreal like a movie, but if we have a look at the police bulletin this is the reality.

The condition of the vehicle

The car must be in the best condition, the servicing must be done properly, we must always have spare parts for small repairs for example fuses, radiator hoses, lamps, etc. You keep a can with coolant , foam for the tires in a case of a puncture , safety triangle, jack, tools for quick repairs , 2 flash lights with fresh batteries, one pocket flashlight and the other with a headband.

The fuel tank must always be over the half full and we must have a contract with a reliable road assistance.

The locks and the alarm system must be in a working condition. The vehicle keys must not be on the same key-ring with our home keys.

Personal equipment

In the luggage compartment, we must have a change of clothing, one pair of jeans, some underwear , jerseys, socks, a jockey hat and a waterproof reflective jacket in a sealed plastic bag. In addition, a pair of athletic shoes.

We need the clothes in the case we get wet etc .. The waterproof reflective jacket we need it in the case of a forced stop during the night or in conditions of low visibility, rain, fog, snow. The jockey hat we want it to keep the rain away from our face if we wear glasses so that we have a good visibility. The shoes can be used in case we have to walk a long distance.

Carefully packed the above items do not take a lot of space.

Communication

Our mobile phone has to be always charged and we must have enough air-time, we must have a good power pack of good quality and high capacity, for a back-up a phone charger is a good idea. The demanding can also have an old technology cell phone, charged and with air-time, hidden but easily accessed in the luggage compartment.

Security measures

In the luggage compartment we keep a knife with a fixed blade and size that allows us to handle it even with our hands tied, for that is why we have it hidden but easily accessible in a case we fall victim to kidnapping and the kidnappers throw us in the trunk of our own car. In a situation like this we can cut the ties with the knife and then with our hands free is easy to break one of the back lights and try to draw the attention of the other drivers either with our hands or with the torch we are keeping there (do you remember?) or we call the police with that old technology cell phone we had taken care to hide it in the luggage area.

Trips

When it comes to long trips, we try to travel at day time, if possible. Before we leave, we inform some of our friends and family members about the trip, the time we left and the approximate arrival time at our destination as of any stopovers , unexpected or planned.

We never stop in deserted places for no reason other than an emergency, and we always inform someone about it.

We do not park in a dark or unfrequented areas.

Many locations with shops or other businesses, factories, construction sites, that are busy during the day may are deserted after hours.

When we stop at a red traffic light, especially at night, we watch if there are any suspects there, even children, which are used many times to draw our attention from their accomplices whose intention is to attack us .

We do not look direct at the red light because we are going to lose our night and peripheral vision. We do not stop too close to the vehicle ahead. We always must have enough space to drive around it. If we can see the rear wheels of the vehicle in front of us then we are OK.

And above all we see!!we are not just looking around.