I think Will has hit it. It seems unlikely that your EDC would be much help if you are trying to escape a car that just fell in the river, but it sure would be a good thing if you were a bystander. And you'd sure want that bystander who just pulled you out of the river to have something to address the blood gushing out of your leg...

That said, think about it this way. Let's say that it had been sabotage. The city shuts down all the bridges to check them. You are stuck wherever you are with whatever you have.

There are lots of ways this can happen. Power outages take out the subways. Floods close the roads. Snow storms. Earthquakes.

I think it's a good idea to assume that you could get stuck pretty much anywhere for at least 24hrs with whatever you have on you.

-john

I think you and Will are both correct. I think it's time to redirect (aka: Hijack) this thread and put some thought to what we have as EDC and as BoB in order to assist in the response to this and other kinds of incidents that could call for assisting others AND to have what's needed for 24 hrs of being stuck in the city or just outside of the city, trying to get home, past roadblocks set up in response to an incident.

I am going to have to re-think some of my previous thinking.

Just to start off, I think a good FAK is a good place to start.

-john

Great thought, Wildman. Not a lot of threads seem deal with being prepared to render aid to others (beyond friends, family, camping trip companions, etc). Not that people wouldn't, its just that a lot of our posts might be read as suggesting an underlying "every man for himself" attitude. This is a refreshing change of perspective, I think.

I agree that being able to aid others implies taking care of yourself, too. If I pull a person out of a car who needs CPR, but incapacitate myself doing it and perhaps pass out, I have just made a bad situation worse. Like the cards in the pockets of the airline seats say, if the oxygen masks drop out of the overhead, put YOURS on BEFORE attempting to aid the person next to you.

Frank2135

Regardless of being a citizen first responder or just an unlucky commuter stuck in the resultant all-night traffic jam, keeping a not-going-anywhere-soon kit in your car is a good thing -- FAK, food, water, blankets, tools, boots, warm clothes. I need to add some rope in case climbing (up or down) is required.

I'm with RAS on this on. All those items could come in handy in many different situation.

Rope and a gallon of water. Dump half (or so) the water and tie the rope to the handle. You can throw the rope farther, and it will float. The jug might be more visible to a person in the water than the rope itself, due to their low angle of view.

Sue

You are always coming up with great ideas! I would suggest a yellow anti-freeze bottle, and a bright colored rope, might be easier for someone to see.

I once knew of a guy who thru his spare tire into the water to save a guy who was about to go down for the third time. Spare tires will float just fine. Just don't hit the swimmer in the noggin' with it...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned a flashlight. Disasters happen at night as well. My EDC pocket flashlight is a tiny ARC-AAA flashlight attached to a whistle. I carry it separate from my keyring. I also carry a SureFire G2 Nitrolon in my briefcase. It's compact, durable and bright.

I suspect the bridge collapse would have been much worse after dark, for several reasons.

First, the construction crew would have been gone and traffic would have been moving at a higher speed. That might have allowed more cars to drive off the edge before they realized the bridge was out. The saving grace here was that due to the way the bridge approaches collapsed I don't think the drop-off would have been directly into the water.

Second, in darkness the survivors would have had a much harder time moving to safety and being spotted by volunteer rescuers and first responders. The idea of drifting down a river in the dark scares me. I used to scuba dive at night in Hawaii. I always carried several primary and backup lights along with an underwater strobe as an emergency backup.

Finally, there is the issue of panic. The emergency is bad enough, but not being able to see what's around you so you can move to a safe location can cause people to do stupid things.

I like Susan's idea of a gallon of water and a rope, it's multi-purpose. If the emergency is dehydration, you can drink the water. If the emergency is needing to throw the rope you can use it as she described.

Dennis (the Menace)

I just thought of something more horrible: I wonder if any of the people whose cars went into the water had picked up their babies or toddlers from daycare on their way home, and had them strapped into the back seat?

Sue