Surviving 24 hrs in your car in ice cold conditions

Early snow and freezing weather is predicted in the UK for the third year running. There will be lots of advice posted on the Internet about driving in the snow and preparing your car. But they don't tell you how to survive if you get stuck in the cold. How do you cope when you're stranded in your car overnight in freezing conditions?

Driving in heavy snow is not a good idea and normally there are broadcasts not to drive then followed by pressure to drive and get back to work. It's worth remembering heavy snow is an extreme weather conditions that can have extreme consequences. It's time to consider your own ability and willingness to drive in heavy snow. Also consider if you can realistically reach your destination. Your journey could be halted by closed roads. Even if you drive one of the best 4x4 vehicles you can be thwarted by less capable cars and breakdowns blocking the road.

There will be plenty of advice about checking your vehicle's wipers, lights and anti-freeze. You might also carry equipment like snow-chains, a shovel, torch, and old carpet to use for traction. Again is the driver both willing and able to get out of their car into freezing conditions to make their way? It can be dangerous working around a car that's slipping and sliding with wheels spinning. Even if you make some headway if conditions are that bad you will eventually find your route blocked.

The important point is heavy snow is an extreme weather condition and it can have extreme implications if you are stranded. It's time to forget the car as a means of transport and realise you need to look after your body which is what really transports you about in life.

Surviving freezing conditions can seem so simple it can be dismissed as a consideration. Here's a list you'll immediately recognise with hindsight. The vital point is to do it.

1. Wear or carry warm clothing. Which means every garment - underwear, socks, shoes, trousers, tops, gloves, hat, scarf. Ski, camping and rambling gear are normally protective.
2. Carry blankets and sleeping bags. You may have some foil sheets you kept from a charity run.
3. Pack food, snacks, and a flask of hot drink.
4. When stranded and stationary use your snow shovel to ventilate underneath your car. Snow can build up around your car to the door sill and bumper levels both blocking your exhaust pipe and trapping air underneath your car which can eventually leak into the passenger compartment. If you turn on your engine to use the heater and the exhaust emissions leak into the cabin it could be fatal.
5. Place warning triangles and lamps on your roof out of the snow on the ground.
6. Always take your mobile phone charger with you.
7. Carry a wind-up charging torch.
8. Pack any necessary medication.

Once you're warm, nourished and safe be aware of perspiration. Also MPV cars full of passengers can generate a lot of condensation. The idea is to keep dry and ventilated because you become even colder when the cold gets to any moisture.

This may all seem simple stuff but is can become serious if you get stranded. It pays to give a lot of thought to a survival kit and the extent you are both able and willing to venture into extreme snow conditions in a car.

Regards
Ralph
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