Recovery

Off Road Vehicle Recovery.

Prevention is better than cure, but that sentiment won’t provide much comfort once you’re stuck!

Depending on where you are, being stuck can be a bit of an inconvenience or life threatening.

If you’re at a ‘Pay & Play’ site there’ll be masses of assistance in minutes. However if you’re in the Sahara Desert or the Amazonian Jungle or even just a remote part of the Yorkshire Moors, you’re probably going to have to deal with it yourself.

The priority has to be to keep everyone safe. If the vehicle isn’t secure or is sinking get everyone out before trying to assess the situation further.

Stay With It, or Leave Your Vehicle.

In fast flowing water it may be better to stay on the roof or bonnet of the vehicle rather than risk being washed away. Even slow moving water can have it’s hazards.

If you’re in the middle of a desert and unable to recover your vehicle, stay with it. Finding a vehicle in an endless sea of sand dunes is difficult; spotting a solitary person is pretty much impossible.

In other situations you have to make your decision based on the surroundings. If you’re looking at a ten minute hike and you’re not injured, go get the help you need. If it’s a five hour ‘yomp’ and you’ve suffered an injury, or the light is beginning to fade, you’re probably better staying with your vehicle.

If you’ve gone off the ‘road’, try and get back to it. Once there leave some sort of distress marker pointing out where you are so the next person passing will hopefully stop and help.

Spot a Problem.

Most of us have roads we drive regularly and tend to notice if something has changed, such as a damaged wall. If you’re out driving first thing in the morning and you spot fresh wheel tracks heading off the road, stop in a safe place and check there hasn’t been an accident overnight. It’s not unusual
for cars to lie unfound for days.

To The Rescue.

If you get called out to rescue someone, don’t be tempted to rush. You’ll be no use to them if you have an accident on the way. Besides if it’s that urgent there are various professional emergency services you should be calling!

Equally important is to tread carefully once you arrive. They’ve had an accident or got themselves stuck, don’t let the same happen to you. It may mean that you have to stop further away and walk to them, but that’s much better than having both vehicles stuck and out of use.