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Several situations have caused me to write this.
Day to day driving:
Surviving the day to day traffic is going to be the most difficult. Never mind Post SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, EVENTS or whatever for now. Things folks have been scraped up with a shovel for that I see daily.
SHEEPLE, that is driving with others in groups. Military Convoys, Law Enforcement Teams, High Risk Operators, VIP Protection with highly skilled and trained drivers is hard enough to travel at high speeds in close proximity much less the everyday driver trying to catch up to and stay beside or directly behind joe blow who has been up for 2 days on a binge while texting and wondering how much fuel is left in the tank while running 85mph with no side mirror. FOLLOWING TO CLOSE, SPEEDING, DRINKING, DOING ANYTHING BUT DRIVING WHILE DRIVING. These are just some but take a good look at yourself and be safe and SURVIVE so I can eventually meet some of you. I fall into bad habits too and have to break myself. Guilty on all counts except sheepling. I hate sheeple, even as a kid.
Ok now to SHTF, The Bad Day, TEOTWAWKI.
Can your vehicle cut it? When it gets bad and you have to get thru the wandering mindless and scared zombies to go where you need to be "to survive" and "murphy" will make sure you are no where near there when it goes down, can you and your vehicle accomplish it? Will you have to ram a barricade or shove abandoned zombie vehicles left in your path?
Talk to someone who has PUSH convoyed thru a foreign country like Iraq and ask them what works or doesn't. Ask a Law Enforcement Officer who has done the PIT or a RAM and see what gave out. Look at getting training from a driving school just like you would with your gun except you spend 1000 times more time with your car than your sidearm at least for some anyway.
Everyone thinks the bumper is the most important. The frame is what holds it together, not so much the bumper. I see guys put giant brush guards on them newest and bestest trucks and brag about what they can hit with it, which is sooo funny because all vehicles are designed to collapse at speeds for safety. The bumper will survive but the vehicle will die because that expensive piece of steel just collapsed the radiator when the frame gave way at the cut points. In order to make it work the break or cut points will have to be modified. However this comes with a warning, if you wreck and say someone is killed and they find your "modifications" be certain their family will sue you or worse you may be found guilty of a crime such as manslaughter. The modifications are not too hard simple welding and adding extra metal across these points. Older vehicles do have them however even steel doesn't hold it's strength forever and some build up may be needed especially in corner areas of the fenders and bumpers. Roadwarriorizing is not needed just simple strength points. It is also not recommended as added weight changes the dynamics such as steering, braking and tires ability to grip.
Don't forget about the airbags. If needed they may need to be disabled so as not to disable your vehicle because some vehicles are even designed once they go off to kill the fuel supply which will leave you dead in the water with the sharks err I mean zombies! However again the modifications will void warranties and leave you exposed. Older vehicles do not have them but seatbelts are not a bad idea even in them while knocking the daylights outta scrap heaps in your way along with them "sissy" headpads which can save your neck a little trauma.
You need to be able to drive over curbs, thru ditches, across fields or over parking curbs down the sidewalk over the neighbors petunias. Think outside the box when in an emergency situation. A lot of folks die every year because they refuse to steer their way out of situations. From day one of driving we are trained to stay inside the lines like when coloring but start your thinking now by playing "what if" game in the walmart parking lot or at the busiest intersection on your commute home. How much ground clearance does your vehicle have?
When hitting a vehicle across the roadway try and hit the non-motorized side which should have less weight. Keep your speed steady and as the vehicles contact accelerate and power thru. If there are two vehicles it's just like martial arts when someone grabs your wrist pull into the space where the fingers touch with emphasis on their thumb which is the weak point and in this case the space between the two vehicles with emphasis on the lightest vehicle or area on the vehicle such as the trunk. The space is the path of least resistance and the key.
How are your tires and shocks and brakes? All the horsepower in the world won't save you if you can't keep the rubber on the road. Speaking of HPs do we follow our no less than 1/2 tank rules and is that enough to get where you have to be?
I'm sure I have left out some stuff so do your thing and add it so we can better survive.
Day to day driving:
Surviving the day to day traffic is going to be the most difficult. Never mind Post SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, EVENTS or whatever for now. Things folks have been scraped up with a shovel for that I see daily.
SHEEPLE, that is driving with others in groups. Military Convoys, Law Enforcement Teams, High Risk Operators, VIP Protection with highly skilled and trained drivers is hard enough to travel at high speeds in close proximity much less the everyday driver trying to catch up to and stay beside or directly behind joe blow who has been up for 2 days on a binge while texting and wondering how much fuel is left in the tank while running 85mph with no side mirror. FOLLOWING TO CLOSE, SPEEDING, DRINKING, DOING ANYTHING BUT DRIVING WHILE DRIVING. These are just some but take a good look at yourself and be safe and SURVIVE so I can eventually meet some of you. I fall into bad habits too and have to break myself. Guilty on all counts except sheepling. I hate sheeple, even as a kid.
Ok now to SHTF, The Bad Day, TEOTWAWKI.
Can your vehicle cut it? When it gets bad and you have to get thru the wandering mindless and scared zombies to go where you need to be "to survive" and "murphy" will make sure you are no where near there when it goes down, can you and your vehicle accomplish it? Will you have to ram a barricade or shove abandoned zombie vehicles left in your path?
Talk to someone who has PUSH convoyed thru a foreign country like Iraq and ask them what works or doesn't. Ask a Law Enforcement Officer who has done the PIT or a RAM and see what gave out. Look at getting training from a driving school just like you would with your gun except you spend 1000 times more time with your car than your sidearm at least for some anyway.
Everyone thinks the bumper is the most important. The frame is what holds it together, not so much the bumper. I see guys put giant brush guards on them newest and bestest trucks and brag about what they can hit with it, which is sooo funny because all vehicles are designed to collapse at speeds for safety. The bumper will survive but the vehicle will die because that expensive piece of steel just collapsed the radiator when the frame gave way at the cut points. In order to make it work the break or cut points will have to be modified. However this comes with a warning, if you wreck and say someone is killed and they find your "modifications" be certain their family will sue you or worse you may be found guilty of a crime such as manslaughter. The modifications are not too hard simple welding and adding extra metal across these points. Older vehicles do have them however even steel doesn't hold it's strength forever and some build up may be needed especially in corner areas of the fenders and bumpers. Roadwarriorizing is not needed just simple strength points. It is also not recommended as added weight changes the dynamics such as steering, braking and tires ability to grip.
Don't forget about the airbags. If needed they may need to be disabled so as not to disable your vehicle because some vehicles are even designed once they go off to kill the fuel supply which will leave you dead in the water with the sharks err I mean zombies! However again the modifications will void warranties and leave you exposed. Older vehicles do not have them but seatbelts are not a bad idea even in them while knocking the daylights outta scrap heaps in your way along with them "sissy" headpads which can save your neck a little trauma.
You need to be able to drive over curbs, thru ditches, across fields or over parking curbs down the sidewalk over the neighbors petunias. Think outside the box when in an emergency situation. A lot of folks die every year because they refuse to steer their way out of situations. From day one of driving we are trained to stay inside the lines like when coloring but start your thinking now by playing "what if" game in the walmart parking lot or at the busiest intersection on your commute home. How much ground clearance does your vehicle have?
When hitting a vehicle across the roadway try and hit the non-motorized side which should have less weight. Keep your speed steady and as the vehicles contact accelerate and power thru. If there are two vehicles it's just like martial arts when someone grabs your wrist pull into the space where the fingers touch with emphasis on their thumb which is the weak point and in this case the space between the two vehicles with emphasis on the lightest vehicle or area on the vehicle such as the trunk. The space is the path of least resistance and the key.
How are your tires and shocks and brakes? All the horsepower in the world won't save you if you can't keep the rubber on the road. Speaking of HPs do we follow our no less than 1/2 tank rules and is that enough to get where you have to be?
I'm sure I have left out some stuff so do your thing and add it so we can better survive.