Build-A-Kit

Do you have a safety kit on your motorcycle when you ride? An effective safety kit includes items you know how to use that are easy to retrieve when needed. So begin by thinking through the bumps and bruises you can reasonably treat. There’s no sense in carrying equipment you don’t know how to use or, on the other hand, stuff that won’t solve the sort of problem you’re apt to face. For most people (and for a good example), those problems will include road rash and deeper cuts that bleed.

You’ll want to have:

• Hand-cleaning wipes
• A couple pairs of rubber gloves
• A few small and large bandages, being sure to include:
  • Band-aid long enough to wrap around a finger
  • Band-aid made to adhere to knuckles
• Non-adherent sterile dressing pads
• Tape or small roll of self-adhesive stretch wrap bandage to hold dressings in place
• Packets of NSAID pain reliever
• Packages of burn gel: antiseptic plus Lidocaine, especially good for exhaust burns
• Small packets of antibiotic ointment
• Small bottle of wound cleaner such as hydrogen peroxide
• Sponge to use with wound cleaner

Use small packets rather than whole bottles or loose pills. Keep bandaging items in their sterile wrappings until you need them. Put the whole kit and kaboodle into a container and mark it so you, or someone helping you, can identify it easily.