Driving around in your car, you never know when you’ll happen upon a traffic accident. Or if you’ll be stuck in traffic. Or if you’ll be caught in the middle of a riot and surrounded by looters (okay, just kidding about this last one). Still, you have a duty to be a responsible person while driving, which means you have to be prepared for medical emergencies encountered on the road.  But, at the same time, you can’t pack your vehicle with so much medical equipment that you have no room to squeeze into the driver’s seat. You can’t overload with medical supplies, expecting to quickly turn into Mad Max and be able to face the apocalypse.  In other words, don’t be that guy with the sign that reads “the end is near” and think you have to be prepared for everything. You really don’t need all that much in your vehicle, assuming you’re in a functioning country that isn’t war-torn and where paramedics can quickly ...

This is what I carry when I’m on a date or just out slaying some beers. As you can see, I like to go light and minimal. I know these ankle kits are popular, but there’s something you need to be aware of about them. Whether you’re coming from the Balkans or from Detroit, this super-duper kit can be easily mistaken for an ankle monitor (which tends to attract unwanted attention from the cops and it can make someone you’re taking out on a first date suspicious of you, ruining your prospects in the process). My bare minimum: a tourniquet (or at least the know-how to improvise one in the event carrying around a TQ is impractical). The reason I recommend a TQ as the bare minimum is that, even in a “normal” urban setting, help in the form of an ambulance or a doctor could be many long minutes away from reaching you—and in situations calling for a TQ, seconds count.   Here’s my list of what I carry for dealing with everyday scenarios: TQ (to...