Build your own Car Safety Kits
With just a few simple items, you can add a car safety kit to your vehicle. A car safety kit might be helpful in the event of a roadside emergency. You can shop for a kit that is already constructed, or build your own from our sample checklist. You can download a copy of the checklist in one of four languages below. Add a kit to your own car or gift a kit to a loved one.
Download the checklist
-
Open PDF file, 1.27 MB, Car safety kit checklist (English, PDF 1.27 MB)
What we’re doing
The car safety checklist handout includes steps to take in roadside emergencies.
The car safety kit prototype provides a “starter pack” of tools for individuals to keep in their vehicles to help them stay visible in the event of a roadside emergency. The MassDOT Car Safety “Starter” Kit is a small bag of supplies focused on visibility. It contains three LED flares, a high-visibility safety vest, a simple first aid kit, a tip sheet for use, and a feedback card. The kit can be modified by drivers to include other items as they see fit.
In collaboration with the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) we will distribute a small number of kits to newly licensed drivers across Massachusetts. We will also communicate suggested safety steps to take during a vehicle breakdown emergency. Alongside the kit distribution, we will run a broader public messaging campaign focused on being visible when exiting a vehicle on the side of the road.
Why we’re doing it
More deadly crashes occur at dusk and nighttime. Visibility can be a large factor in those outcomes. A car breakdown, minor crash, or emergency can require a driver to pull to the side of the roadway. We know that exiting a vehicle can put a person at significant risk, particularly at night. Should someone need to exit a vehicle, it is essential that the person remains visible to help protect their own safety.
While they’re not traditionally thought of as pedestrians, stranded motorists exiting their vehicles, first responders, and tow truck drivers are all examples of people killed on roadways who show up in crash databases as “pedestrians”.
Massachusetts faces this problem, too. In a recent four-year period, there were 74 fatalities in Massachusetts involving drivers or passengers who exited their vehicles while stopped on the side of the road. In that same period, 66% of vulnerable user crashes on roadways in Massachusetts occurred during non-daylight hours.
To help address some of the visibility issues contributing to these fatal crashes, many countries around the world require drivers to keep a set of safety items in their vehicle at all times. Through peer research with our network partners in the International Urban and Regional Cooperation program, we developed a car safety kit concept.
To test the usefulness of this concept in Massachusetts, we are distributing Car Safety Kits and running an awareness campaign. This prototype includes a simple kit of items focused on visibility and a PSA campaign aligned with the end of daylight savings time. This kit aims to proactively increase visibility and safety in the event of a breakdown or crash that causes someone to pull over to the side of the road.
What we hope to learn
Do people find the kit helpful? Would a kit like this help a driver feel more confident and secure if they have to leave their vehicle for any reason? Do other drivers also benefit by being more aware of a breakdown ahead and adjust their behavior?
Does the campaign messaging help drivers know what to do? One of our main goals is to highlight the importance of visibility. Through our Be Seen campaign on billboards and social media across the Commonwealth, we hope to raise awareness about both personal visibility on the road and attentiveness to others, especially when driving in the dark.
How will the integration of visibility and car safety kits in the driving school curriculum affect drivers going forward? In addition to the kits we distributed, we also provided instructions for creating your own kit, with multilingual instructions on what to do in a breakdown. Do these resources help drivers in emergencies?
How else can we get kits into vehicles? We are tracking not only the kits given directly to new drivers upon the successful completion of their road tests, but also exploring additional avenues for distribution with partners. We plan to better understand the ideal touchpoints with drivers, with the goal of increasing the likelihood of drivers keeping the kit in their vehicles.
Is the road test the right touchpoint for acceptance and adoption? We are starting the kits with a set of new drivers and incorporating it into the drivers’ ed curriculum. How does receiving the kit on the day of one’s road test shape students’ experience as new drivers? And how can we extend this awareness to those who are already on the road?
Who’s involved
The billboard display for MassDOT's car safety kit.