The Road Less Traveled

Tips on Prepping Your UTV for an Emergency.

- John Schwartze

The dreaded, high-pitched buzz of the Emergency Broadcast System simultaneously came across my phone and television. I was finishing my coffee and bracing myself for Friday morning rush-hour traffic, but realized there was something unusual about this broadcast. I was so used to hearing the word “test” after these alerts began that I initially ignored what was being said. As the message continued past its usual duration I realized things were about to get hairy real quick.

A massive chemical spill had occurred at a railway junction less than two miles from my home. The broadcast was unclear about the contaminants being released into the air, but what I knew for sure was that staying here was dangerous. It was time to beat feet. Since the freeways were gridlocked due to time of day and others surely looking to bail after hearing the broadcast, I determined that the best thing to do was to drive my UTV (Utility Task Vehicle) away from the direction of the accident using an escape route I’d plotted a while back. I grabbed my backpack, strapped down some other ancillaries as fast as I could, started up the UTV, and split like a bat out of hell toward my bug-out location.

This is Only a Test … This Time

Although the aforementioned prompt is fictitious, it’s meant to get you thinking about your means of transportation and evacuation plans if you were faced with a similar situation. The train crash mentioned was based on the Graniteville, South Carolina, rail disaster in 2005 where tanker cars hauling chlorine ruptured after a collision, releasing poison gas into the atmosphere. It was considered by many to be the worst chemical accident in U.S. history. Nine people were killed, several hundred were injured, and thousands were forced to flee their homes. Had winds been stronger, the death toll would’ve undoubtedly risen.