Route Security by Chuck S. was a good article, but I would add a few things:
– Newer cars will have daylight running lights and some basic tools may be needed to disable them for real covert night travel.
– If you can afford them, and practice using them, NVGs are great for covert night travel.
– Relying on Fuel en route is a gamble. Ideally, carry the fuel you need to get to your destination. For that, you should have a fuel supply stored and rotated. Use proper storage containers and procedures for safety. Use fuel stabilizer to ensure freshness of fuel and protect your engine.
– Have tools and experience siphoning gas from abandoned cars.
– Plan to use up to double your normal fuel consumption in a car evacuation due to:
o Detours to avoid road blocks and traffic
o Engine running in idle in a traffic jam situation
o Higher than normal vehicle weight due to supplies carried
o Charity fuel donation to stranded strangers (exercising proper operational security)
– Carry tools and equipment to clear obstacles from roads:
o Good bolt cutters
o Chain saw and tow chains
o Broom for glass or nails removal
o Shovel
o Snow removal equipment or chains if appropriate to your environment
– Add a battery jump-starter with air compressor to the tools list
– Plan for a good balance of persons to vehicles. You don’t want to overload your vehicles and if you can, you should have redundancy in case a vehicle becomes disabled, however you do not want to stretch your gas supplies to the limit just to have vehicle redundancy. For example, a family with 3 drivers and 3 smaller kids may want to leave with 2 vehicles instead of squeezing into one.
– If possible, travel in a group of vehicles (Convoy) to increase security and provide redundancy. Ensure communications that do not rely on the grid (CB, or even better – FRS/GMRS with privacy codes). Perform proper briefing to establish procedures and responses to various events.
– When bugging out of an urban area, traffic gridlocks are your biggest enemy. LEAVE EARLY! Having vehicle, equipment and personnel ready to go will make all the difference. Any advanced signs or warnings, interpreted correctly, will give you an advantage over the panicked masses. 1 hour can be the difference between getting to a safe destination or spending the night inside your car with hungry, panicked masses all around you. While the grid is still up, use traffic and road status data sources such as online/mobile navigation software to identify problems on route. Assess your urban area’s ability to evacuate on a large scale.
– Do not rely on GPS – as mentioned in the article, paper maps are a required backup to any electronics that can be damaged or disabled.
– Be able to leave your vehicles if needed and still survive and travel effectively. Packing your cars with supplies doesn’t mean that a bug-out bag or bug-out stroller is not needed. You should be able to leave your car, carrying or rolling supplies on foot, on a moment’s notice.
– Do your best to camouflage your supplies. Towing an open trailer with a cornucopia of goodies such as water tanks, gas tanks and boxes of food just shouts “rob me”. Try to use closed trailers, tarp covers, or other more creative methods to disguise your supplies and eliminate yourself as a juicy target.
– Many of us spend 1/3 of our lives at the office. Route planning, communications and supplies for travel from the office to your house are just as important as bugging out from your house to a bug out location. – H.P.
Jim:
A recent article on Route Security by Chuck S. in your blog mentioned:
“Road Atlas / Maps:
Purchase a large road atlas and use wet erase or permanent markers for marking of primary and secondary routes using different colors.”
I have a problem with that statement.
After a High School football game a family discovered their car had been broken into. One of the items stolen was the car’s GPS. When the family arrived home they discovered the house had been burglarized too. It was theorized that the thieves pressed “Home” on the stolen GPS which lead them straight to the car owner’s house! Instead of entering your home address in the GPS as “Home” I would recommend entering the local Police Department or in my case the small town three miles from my house.
Having a road atlas with your destination clearly marked could lead undesirables straight to you! What I would suggest is ending your marked route at the town before your BOL or at least 20 miles before. Then if your map is taken from you [or circumstances force you to abandon it], the marked location will take the thieves to where you are not. – Robin in Indiana