What is the best thing to do if you are lost?

Answer 1

With these general principles in mind, let’s make sure the car can get us home:

•Don’t let your gas tank get empty – fill it whenever it gets ½ full.
•Make sure your spare tire has air in it.
•Make sure you have a jack and a lug wrench in your trunk.
•Keep a quart of oil in your trunk.
•Check your oil and coolant overflow tank every time you buy gas.
•Carry a cellular phone in your car if you have one.
•Keep some change in the car for tolls and pay phones.
•Don’t pick up hitchhikers.

In case the car breaks down, or it seems inadvisable to drive:

•Communicate with home if you can.
•Find a safe place if you can.

Safe places may include, but are not limited to:

•Home
•Homes of friends or relatives
•Police Stations
•Fire Stations
•Hospitals
•Schools
•Churches

Depending on the nature of the emergency situation and where you are, we may not be able to come and get you. If you are not in a safe place, and cannot communicate with home, you should be prepared to make every effort to travel by whatever means possible until you reach a safe place. Keep the following supplies inside your car for emergency use only:

•Backpack (to hold rest of stuff)
•Water – 4 liters, Aqua Blox or equivalent, potable and sterile
•Food – Emergency Food Bars, jellybeans
•Vitamin/Mineral supplements – Double X (take with meals)
•Survival kit (compass, saw, fishhooks, etc.)
•SAS Survival Guide Book
•Box of matches (kitchen)
•Hand warmers (use in mittens or pockets)
•Flashlight (spare bulb in end cap)
•First aid kits (minimal/trauma)
•Map (road)
•Red kerchief (aerial flag, bandaging, general)
•Emergency stove (heating / cooking)
•Metal cup (snow melting / cooking)
•Bright Orange Poncho (high visibility raingear)
•Survival blanket (silvered plastic)
•Feminine napkin (bandaging, as well as obvious)
•3 yards duct tape (bandaging, repairs)
•potassium iodide tablets (in case of nuclear attack)
•Star Flash ® Signal Mirror (can be seen up to 100 miles away)
•Jet Scream ™ Whistle – (loud, no pea, works when wet)
•P-38 Can Opener (in case motor oil is in a can)
•Spare flashlight batteries
•‘Cold Steel’ Bushman survival knife (don’t take the backpack on an airplane!)
•Copy of this document (for what it’s worth)
•Change of socks and underwear (you must add this)

These items are useful if you are stranded in the car, drive to a safe place, or must abandon the car for any reason. You should also keep some clothing in the trunk of your car. The idea is that you might not want to hike home in the clothes you wore when you went out, such as a suit or a dress. In addition, you might always wear or carry a coat, since weather is changeable. If you take passengers in your car, encourage them to wear or carry a coat also. Other suggested items include:

•Boots / hiking shoes
•Pair of jeans
•Sweater
•Stocking cap
•Mittens / Gloves
•Blanket

The clothing need not fit in the backpack, since if you set off in foot you will probably be wearing it. The blanket need not fit in the backpack. It may be very useful if you are stranded in the car or drive to a safe place.

The car as an unsafe place:

If you see terrorists, rioters, barricades, fires, looting, or other signs of civil unrest, turn around and go another way if you can. If there is no other way, you may have to abandon the car and seek out a safe place. Drive as far from the unrest as you reasonably can. Park the car somewhere, put on your warmest clothes and hiking boots, grab your backpack, and get out. Don’t worry about the car, your life is more important.
Proceed on foot to the nearest safe place and try to establish communication with home.

If your car has somehow landed in a river, creek, or pond, you need to get out of the car, quickly. If your car is disabled in a low spot susceptible to flooding, you should be prepared to leave it at the first sign of water.

If your car breaks down in a traffic lane, do not stay in the car unless it is daylight and your car is clearly visible from all directions. Turn on your emergency blinkers if they are working. An inattentive driver may hit your car as it sits disabled. You may be safer outside it, off the roadway altogether. Call 911 if you can, and tell them your car is disabled in a traffic lane.

The car as a safe place:

If your car is disabled, or stuck in the snow, on the shoulder or parked, it may be a safe place, at least temporarily. If it is not raining or snowing, raise your hood to indicate you need help. For added visibility, tie a red rag on your car antenna. Then stay in your car with the doors locked. Call home if you can and tell us where you are.

If you are stranded in the car in the winter, and the motor is operable, you can run the motor and heater intermittently (10 minutes every hour) to stay warm for an extended period of time. Use this time to change into weather-appropriate clothing if you can.
Get out your backpack, and if your water is frozen, take some Aqua Blox out to thaw. While running the motor, turn on your dome light so people can see you.

Caution! If your car is buried in snow, or enclosed in any way, carbon monoxide from the exhaust may seep into the passenger compartment. Clear snow away from the tailpipe of your car. Do not fall asleep in the car while the motor is running.

Even with the motor inoperable and the battery dead, there are good reasons to stay in the car. In severe weather conditions, the car can keep you dry and out of the wind. In cold weather, the wind-chill temperature is typically much lower than the air temperature. Inside the car, you are not subject to wind-chill. Dress in your warmest clothes, wrap in your blanket(s), and wait for the severe weather to subside. Eat jellybeans for the energy they provide, and remember to drink water. If you have a regular blanket in addition to the survival blanket, wrap yourself in the survival blanket first, then wear the regular blanket on the outside. Crack one of the downwind windows to allow for fresh air.
The hand warmers are chemically activated, and will operate for up to 7 hours. They are meant to be used in mittens or coat pockets. Do not place them against your bare skin, as burns may result.

If you are using the emergency stove for heat, you can put an unwrapped Aqua Blox or snow in the metal cup and place it on top of the stove. This is a useful source of water, while the fuel lasts. You should generally avoid eating unmelted snow, which lowers your body temperature.

If your car breaks down in the summer, and it’s 100 in the shade, you may disregard all the remarks about snow. You may wish to change into your coolest clothing. It is important to stay in the shade to avoid sunburn, dehydration, and heat stroke. Your blankets can be used to make shade, in or out of the car. In the heat, it is particularly important to drink water.

No matter what the weather, if your car is visible from the roadway and is otherwise safe, stay with the car. Search / rescue efforts will find your car more easily than they can find you. If it’s snowing, clear the snow off the car occasionally to aid in visibility. A car buried in snow looks a lot like a snowdrift.

If your car is in a ditch or somewhere where it is unlikely to be seen, you may have to leave the car to get help. Wait for daylight, if at all possible. (But see “Hostile territory” below) Take your backpack with the emergency supplies. Wear your bright orange poncho for extra visibility unless you are hiding. Proceed to the roadway and watch for signs of traffic. If you cannot reasonably expect help, you should proceed on foot to the nearest safe place and try to establish communication with home. Note that you may wish to take along the motor oil or the jack handle, see below.

The notes that immediately follow assume that you are making your way on foot in hostile territory.

If there are hostile persons in the area, you may not wish to be found. If you are trying to be covert, put away the orange poncho, don’t use the whistle, and don’t build fires. You will not need the motor oil. The “Bushman” survival knife is a useful weapon, and can be mounted on the end of a pole and used as a spear as necessary. The jack handle may be also used as a weapon.

Escape and/or evasion is a difficult subject to give advice about. Much depends upon whether or not anyone hostile is actively searching for you. You may wish to hide during the day and travel only by night. Noise, fires, and any obvious signs of activity are to be avoided. Of course, you may also be trying to seek out food, water, or friendly forces. If you can locate friendly forces, you may be able to get food, water, and assistance from them. Aside from surviving and avoiding the hostile forces, you should continue to try to reach home or some other safe place.

The notes that immediately follow assume that you are making your way on foot in friendly territory.

If you are out in the boonies somewhere, take along the motor oil. It can be useful for signaling, see “Signal Fire”. In friendly territory, leave the jack handle in the car.

If you find yourself in a wooded area or somewhere where visibility is impeded, you may wish to use your whistle. The universal distress signal is 3 short blasts of the whistle, followed by silence (while you listen for someone to whistle back). If you do hear a response, keep signaling intermittently, so that the search party can locate you.

If you are out in the boonies, a signal fire is a reasonable way to attract attention.
In the daytime, if the air is still, the smoke from a signal fire can be seen for a substantial distance. If you build a roaring fire with no smoke, a little motor oil added to the fire will bring the EPA after you. At night, the light given off by a fire can be seen from the air and from the surrounding area. Caution! If you deliberately start a signal fire, take utmost care not to start a forest fire. Do not build a signal fire while there are strong winds. Choose an open area without overhanging tree limbs for safety and best visibility. Clear all combustibles from a round area much larger than your signal fire, and if possible, pile rocks around the cleared area. You should be prepared to throw dirt on the fire to put it out if it threatens to spread or when you are prepared to move on. Do not waste your drinking water on putting out the fire, you may need it.

If you are stranded in an open area, your signal mirror is an excellent way to attract attention from search-a-rescue aircraft. It works best on clear days, when the sun is well up over the horizon, but signal mirrors have been used on overcast days, by moonlight, campfire, etc. If your mirror has no aiming device, hold the mirror in one hand just below your eye level. Extend your other hand, and adjust the mirror until the bright spot lands on your extended hand. Now adjust the mirror to move the spot to the horizon.
If aircraft are in the area, wave the spot back and forth at the aircraft. A flashing light is an established distress signal. If there are no obvious aircraft, scan the spot across the horizon anyway, there may be aircraft out of your sight but within range of the mirror. Under ideal conditions, the mirror may be visible up to 100 miles.

If you have no signal mirror, your silvered emergency blanket makes a workable substitute. Stretch it over the inside of a hubcap, or a hoop made from a bent twig, with the shiny side out. The idea is to produce a flat, shiny surface. While not quite as reflective or handy as a signal mirror, the increased surface area will compensate in reflected light what it lacks in appearance.

In urban areas, you may dispense with the campfire making, signal mirror, etc. However, take along your backpack, it contains many useful things. I am assuming you will be able to find other people. Depending on the nature of the emergency, not all people are necessarily friendly or helpful. Be alert for people acting out of panic, greed or self-preservation. You will have to decide for yourself how much help you are prepared to give other people who are in need of assistance. I would advise you not to endanger your own ability to survive under potentially difficult conditions.

Answer 2

Lost like in the woods? Follow a stream down to a road and start walking. No stream? do people know where you went and when you should be back? Sit down and wait for help.
Normally when children get lost they always go uphill. Adults tend to go down hill and teenagers go across a hill horizontally. (I am assuming also that you do not have a cell phone or it is not working, which is quite common)

Or are you talking about getting lost in a town or city? ask for directions, or turn on your GPS.

Answer 3

depends on the giving location and situation, most cases people get lost in some rual part of the world other just get lost in a big city
but if you do find your seld lost, ask somebody for help, if there is nobody around the just be cool and retrace your steps and use your head, try to use everything the see and have with you

i hope it never happens to but if it dose happen pray to Jesus and have faith......peace

Answer 4

Where? In the city, you buy a map, or find a cop and ask directions. In the country, you stay put or follow a stream or river. In life, you look at why and then try to get organized and develop goals.

Answer 5

Yes, I hate losing things. Of all the things I've lost over the years, I miss my mind the most! :D

Answer 6

I would call 911 for help if I have a cell phone or if not, I would cry out for help but I wouldn't sit quiet like a dumb.

Answer 7

Prevention is the key. When we go somewhere we always agree on a place and time to meet should we get separated. We agree that on the even hour we should meet at that place. So if at 1230pm someone is noticed missing, we check the meeting place at 2pm. If it happens at 130pm, we check the meeting place at 2pm. It works for us.

Answer 8

get a job, start an exercise program, write a poem, set a goal, be kind to someone less fortunate - anything other than sit and cry.

Answer 9

It kind of depends on where you are lost.

Answer 10

Go to the nearset person in charge

Answer 11

Stay in that place and make a bonfire
But if you are in a city, you can ask help