Winter Road Safety Starts With Preparation
Winter driving starts with preparation. (Canstockphoto)
When your vehicle is stranded in a snow bank miles from help, and your cell phone battery is dead, it’s too late to think about winter driving safety.
Tag Archives: Travel Security
Fraud and Security Mobile Apps Available
Equifax has an app for iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad, for US customers. (Image: Equifax/Apple App store)
Owners of Apple iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad devices have an array of security and fraud related “apps” now available, many of which are free.
Ascendent Group has produced an app for monitoring a home or office video surveillance system, called ARMS. The app plugs in to the IP address for your streaming cameras, DVRs, or IP servers, allowing you to view your CCTV system remotely, from anywhere in the world.
Most DVRs and cameras that are Internet friendly allow for some type of interface through a regular web browser, but this app allows the user the convenience of viewing the camera system anywhere you have a WiFi or mobile phone signal, streaming directly from the source. The app also features capability for taking snapshots, and controlling PTZ camera systems.
Scanner911 is a free app that allows a user to listen to radio broadcasts from a robust list of city and regional emergency services around the world. The list of Canadian agencies alone includes 95 police, fire, ambulance and other emergency services agencies. The contributors are volunteers who connect scanners to their computer systems in order to broadcast a particular agency live over the Internet.
Because they are hobbyists, the various agencies go offline periodically. But the ability to monitor emergency services radio systems in another town or even province may have security applications, particularly for home owners on the road, or businesses with interests in various locales.
Profiler magazine also has an app, allowing convenient browsing of their current and past issues. The magazine mainly deals with health care industry fraud awareness, and recently featured articles on pharmacy fraud, medical billing fraud, and health care information security.
Equifax also has an app, with two important features: a member log-in, to view your credit information, and a location-based module called “Equifax Places”, which overlays credit scores and fraud risk by geographical area. The data for the app comes from Equifax USA, but perhaps Equifax Canada will release a similar tool in the near future.
Winter Car Survival
Winter driving brings the risk of being stranded - how prepared are you? (Photo: Can Stock Photo)
In winter, there is a very real risk of being stranded in snow in your vehicle, as has happened on several occasions so far this year. Being snowbound can constitute a life or death emergency, but it is one that can easily be anticipated and mitigated through proper planning and preparation.
National media reported yesterday that a section of the Trans-Canada Highway between Strathmore and Bassano, Alberta, was closed due to blowing snow and cold temperatures, which stranded several people in their vehicles.
Last month, 300 vehicles were stranded on Highway 402 in and around Sarnia, Ontario. One person was found perished, and the Canadian Forces were called upon to assist police in clearing vehicles and residences that were left cut off by a snow storm.
If most drivers were to survey their trunk and glove compartment for “emergency supplies” they are likely to find a car owner’s manual, spare fuses, and perhaps booster cables.
But being snowbound in a vehicle for 16-24 hours requires some thought be put into these three critical survival priorities:
- Shelter
- Sustenance
- Sending for help
Shelter
A vehicle provides shelter from biting windchill, but not much else. Cars are not normally designed as dwellings, and are poorly insulated, and made of metal, which loses heat rapidly. Even a small heat source can provide comfort and guard against hypothermia and exposure. At least one candle is a recommended part of a car survival kit, and of course waterproof matches to go with it. It is very important to provide fresh air when burning a candle inside a small space, and a window must be opened slightly to ventilate deadly carbon monoxide created by burning any combustible.
Candles are normally used only as a last resort, as keeping the engine running for intermittent periods will also provide heat. However, as many experienced residents of prairie provinces can attest to, in very cold weather fuel lines can freeze quickly and engines may not start once turned off.
Blankets are also essential, and the more the better. Proper wool blankets can be had at any army surplus shop for a reasonable price, and are far more useful and retaining heat than camping store “survival” blankets that double as foil reflectors, although having both may not be a terrible idea.
Sustenance
Food and water are rarely considerations for healthy adults during short period survival situations. But children, the elderly, or those with special diet or medical considerations require food and water, especially in hardship situations. As the body digests food it creates heat energy. High-sugar, high-calorie foods convert into heat energy more quickly than other foods, and so snack bars, dried fruits, and other non-perishables should always be part of a car survival kit.
The survival rule with water is “ration sweat, not water”. In a vehicle during a winter emergency, water should be consumed before it freezes, when it may not be possible, or energy efficient to thaw again.
Sending for help
Never leave a stranded vehicle in the winter. Ever. Survival experts always recommend staying in your vehicle, even during lengthy emergencies. As was seen in Sarnia last month, police and military searchers established a rescue plan which included ensuring every single vehicle was checked for occupants.
The only person to have died in that incident was a lone male who attempted to walk from his vehicle only a few hundred metres into the city, through a farm field. In an open field in the snow, it is very easy to become disoriented by blowing snow, even in sunny conditions. Walking through deep snow uses a lot of energy and without proper clothing, hypothermia can set in quickly. Once hypothermia sets in, the body shuts down blood flow to extremeties as an emergency measure, to conserve heat. But only gross motor functions continue, and confusion and unconsciousness can set in quickly. Death may occur in a matter of minutes.
It is imperative to stay inside the vehicle. The exception to this rule is if you are fairly sure that your whereabouts are unknown by anyone, and rescue is unlikely. In this rare and exceptional case, attempting to find help may be the only option. This is not usually the case on a major 400-series highway in Ontario, which are patrolled fairly regularly by police and provincial transport authorities.
Obviously if one is stranded and has a means to communicate, such as a cellular phone or HAM radio, they should immediately inform someone of their situation, including their location, any medical issues, and supplies on hand. This information allows rescuers to prioritize their resources. For example, if they know a vehicle contains a person who has plenty of food and heat, they may wait a bit longer to make contact while they investigate vehicles with unknown occupants, or those with medical emergencies or no supplies on hand.
Armoured Car Sales Boom in Mexico: Report
A Reuters news report today confirmed that the drug-fuelled violence in Mexico has led to a rise in sales of car armour for ordinary, middle-class citizens.
According to the report, sales of armoured cars and car armouring services rose 20% in 2010, to nearly 2,000 units, citing the Mexican Armoured Car Association.
While most of the violence is not directed at citizens, over 33,000 people have been killed in drug-related gang violence in Mexico over the last four years, leading to concerns over personal safety among the public.
High-end armouring of cars approaches US$120,000 in costs, which is out of reach for most average consumers and non-VIPs. However, bulletproof vests sell for as low as $300 and sales of those items are increasing as well, the report says.
The Case for Armoured Vehicles
Luxury SUVs are a popular choice for armouring (butterfunk.com)
Banned in at least one Canadian province, privately-owned armoured vehicles are viewed as the mode of transport of choice for organized criminals involved in the drug trade.
But on Sunday, British race car driver Jenson Button was being driven in an armoured car in Sao Paolo, Brazil, when the vehicle was attacked by criminals. The armoured vehicle undoubtedly aided in Button’s escape from the assault.
In San Antonio, Texas, raging drug battles have also led to citizens armouring their cars to avoid becoming casualties in the cross-fire. While the owners of the vehicles primarily armour them for frequent business trips to Mexico, the recent increase in drug gang shootings near the border has the potential to spill over onto the American side. Last week, a top-level Mexican drug kingpin was killed in a battle with Mexican marines that closed down the Nogales border crossing.
Armoured vehicles were banned last year in British Columbia, due mainly to battles between drug gangs, who frequently used them as protection against rivals who were brazenly shooting organized crime leaders around the Vancouver area.
The infamous Bacon brothers are alleged to have leased cars in the names of some-time girlfriends, and armoured them without the knowledge of the provincial insurance authority, or the owners of the vehicles. The vehicles, including luxury SUVs such as Cadillac Escalades, were shipped to Ontario to be armoured, then sent back to B.C.
But the recent experience in Sao Paolo, and along the U.S./Mexican border serve as a reminder that the real reason for armouring vehicles is to protect the occupants from crime. The solution to keeping criminals from armouring their own vehicles is gathering the evidence necessary to lock them up, not preventing law abiding citizens who seek to protect themselves and their families from investing in their security and safety.
Canada has not yet experienced the shocking levels of crime seen in many of the world’s worst areas. But crime levels do not have to be high to justify self-protection.