Safety Modifications and new antenna!

Good thinking.

 

I don't care for the location of the rescue hammer. While it will work fine for another accident, it's not accessible if she needs it herself. I know more than one person who died because they couldn't get out of a car on their own.

Edit: My mistake. I looked again and see that it is in the center console. Good location.

Tom

 

Second that. Every time I see one of those in a door pocket or under the front seat or attached with some wimpy little plastic clip to the dash I can't help but think that in a real emergency, that little thing is gonna fly around the cabin and end up godknowswhere.

 

I don't see a flashlight in the center console. Is it in the glovebox?

I have used road flares twice in the past two months. Are these still in common use, or are people moving to strictly battery powered warning lights?

 

I have a battery powered 'flare' that I keep in the car. I haven't seen a magnesium flare at a store in years.

I've never felt like I needed to keep a flashlight in the cabin of a car. I have 2 in my trunk-- one battery powered and one crank. Usually if I need light in the cabin, I turn on my cell phone and if that's not enough, I have a flashlight app on my phone.

 

4 years old is not bad for flares. I don't know the ages of the ones in used in this incident, but one required multiple strikes to ignite. While sifting through my remaining supply a few days later, they were dated late 1980s to mid 1990s. Then more were consumed in this incident. They burn only 10-15 minutes, nowhere near an hour.

I hadn't used any others in four years, ever since coming across an SUV that skidded on black ice and rolled into the adjacent field. The flares gave an approaching tractor-trailer enough warning to creep up to the scene, find the black ice, and park his nose at the edge of it in the middle of the highway. This protected everyone assisting at the scene from anyone else who might otherwise have discovered the same ice the hard way, at speed, endangering all the non-professionals providing initial help before the professionals could arrive.

The phone flashlight would be adequate inside the cabin if I didn't already have a pinch LED handy. But both are inadequate outside, where I use flashlights often enough that they must be stashed within easy reach of the driver seat, not in the trunk.

 

Good thinking on equiping her with the essentials. I have 2 flares and jump cables in my suby.
I believe that you can buy mag flares at a sporting goods or camping store but I'm not 100% sure. Cops still use them