Getting stranded is snow joke!

If you’ve been watching the news lately you’ll have seen several reports of people getting stranded in their cars on the motorway due to the heavy and sudden snowfall. With temperatures getting down to -3C it really is a worrying situation to find yourself in. Many people had to make the difficult choice between sleeping in their cars in freezing temperatures, without food or water, or abandoning their cars and walking along the motorway to the nearest service station, neither of which is a particularly good way to spend the night!

Other than avoiding travelling in bad weather as much as you can, there’s really not a lot you can do to ensure that this never happens to you, but what you can do is be prepared for such an eventuality by storing a few items in your boot for emergencies. Make sure you have some blankets to keep you warm if you should ever have to sleep in your car or wait for a rescue vehicle. Have some bottled water and something to eat to hand. Add in a torch, and some of those self heating hand warmers that you just snap and they heat up by themselves.

Always make sure you have your phone with you, perhaps keep an in-car charger in the car too. You may need to make lengthy calls to a garage, or ring home to assure your family that you are okay.

Photo credit: koen_photos / Foter.com / CC BY-ND