My family has made fun of me in the past for my preparations for trips (not so much anymore - I think they've given up). Their thinking is "What kind of fool packs fire starting and signaling materials for a cross country trip, on the interstate?" We've never needed any of it. But I still make sure it's available every trip.

My thinking is that once you find yourself in a bad situation, you WILL make bad decisions. While we look at people like this family and say, "She shouldn't have left the car", and be perfectly correct in that assessment, I imagine things don't seem so crystal clear when you're actually stuck and worried about your kid. Hopefully, those potential bad decision times are when I would remember to pull out my fire starting, signalling, shelter, cooking, emergency medical, and other "stupid stuff" that I packed and turn things into an impromptu camping trip.

Because it is so ingrained into me to prepare in advance and not rely on emergency decisions in the heat of the moment, this makes me less understanding of people that head out blind and assume "we'll figure it out when it happens". Especially when you read so many news reports of people who went in clueless and came out dead. I can't fathom how people ignore that and continue on in complete ignorance. As I get older, I tend to get mad at them for their stupidity, which I really shouldn't. I'm more accepting of adults who meet their demise due to stupidity, but I'm not as forgiving when they drag their unknowing kids in with them.