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Pack for a breakdown or long delay in freezing weather, not just for the hours you expect to spend driving. Your vehicle should carry warmth, light, food, water, first aid, traction equipment, a shovel, signaling supplies and a way to charge your phone. The Idaho Driver’s Handbook (July 2025) calls this an emergency winter driving kit.
State Highway 55 conditions, closures and controls can change after you leave home. Check the Idaho Transportation Department’s winter-driving page and Idaho 511 immediately before departure, then adjust your plans to the live forecast and road report.
What belongs in the vehicle
The following checklist combines the emergency-kit list in Idaho’s July 2025 driver handbook with the Idaho Transportation Department’s winter-preparation guidance. Keep the items in the passenger compartment or another place you can reach without unloading the entire vehicle.
| Pack | Why it matters on a winter highway |
|---|---|
| Flashlights and spare batteries | Provide light for a roadside inspection, tire problem or nighttime wait when the vehicle’s electrical system is unavailable. |
| First-aid kit | Handles minor injuries while you wait for help. |
| Pocket knife | Provides a compact general-purpose tool for emergency tasks. |
| Blanket or sleeping bag | Retains body heat if the cabin becomes cold or you must wait for assistance. |
| Extra gloves, socks and a wool cap | Protects extremities if you need to leave the vehicle to clear snow, fit chains or walk for help. |
| Small sack of sand or cat litter | Adds traction under a spinning drive wheel on packed snow or ice. |
| Small shovel | Clears snow around tires and, critically, around the exhaust pipe. |
| Bottled water | Provides drinking water during a delay. |
| Booster cables | Allow a jump-start when a compatible vehicle and safe assistance are available. |
| Emergency flares and a brightly colored scarf | Make the vehicle or a person easier for other drivers and responders to see. |
| Energy bars or other nonperishable food | Provides calories without cooking or refrigeration. |
| Waterproof matches or a lighter | Provides an ignition source for appropriate emergency use. |
| Local map | Offers route information when cellular coverage or a phone battery is unreliable. |
| Phone charger | Keeps communication available during a prolonged stop. |
Inspect the kit before each winter trip. Food expires, batteries lose charge and moisture can damage paper, matches or electronics. Replace anything that has deteriorated rather than assuming an item packed last season still works.
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Wearable warmth and shelter
Keep cold-weather clothing in the cabin
Wear clothing suitable for the forecast, but also pack a spare warm layer. Include the blanket or sleeping bag, extra gloves, spare socks and wool cap listed by the handbook. These are not comfort extras: a stalled engine, blocked lane or chain installation can leave you outside in wind and blowing snow.
Put the warm items where every occupant can reach them. A coat buried under luggage is little help if you must stop quickly. If children or passengers have special medical or mobility needs, pack their additional layers and medications where they remain accessible.
Plan for an overnight wait
Winter maintenance crews work within available resources and do not promise bare pavement. The Idaho Transportation Department Operations Manual, Chapter 7, describes a goal of providing a passable route, not continuously dry or clear pavement. A blanket, sleeping bag, dry socks and food give you a safer margin if traffic stops or a recovery vehicle cannot reach you immediately.
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Traction equipment and chains
Carry the right traction material
A small sack of sand or cat litter can help a tire gain traction when it spins. A compact shovel lets you clear packed snow from in front of and behind the drive tires. Use the shovel carefully around the vehicle so you do not strike brake lines, bodywork or other components.
Choose chains for the actual vehicle
Tire chains are preparedness equipment, not a universal accessory. They must be compatible with your vehicle’s clearance, drive wheels, tire size and the manufacturer’s instructions. Read the vehicle and tire-chain manuals before leaving, and practice fitting the chains in daylight with gloves. A first attempt on a dark, icy shoulder is slow and exposes you to traffic.
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Carry chains when they suit the vehicle and forecast, but do not assume that State Highway 55 requires them on every winter trip. The available guidance does not establish a chain requirement for a particular date. Check current Idaho 511 information for any active control before departure and again if conditions change.
Check the rest of the car
Before setting out, inspect the tires, battery and windshield-washer fluid. Use winter-rated washer fluid appropriate to the expected temperature. ITD also recommends starting with a full fuel tank, carrying jumper cables, a tow rope or traction material, and confirming that your phone can charge.
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Food, water and basic medical supplies
Pack food that can stay in the car
Energy bars and other nonperishable food are the handbook’s examples. Choose items that can be eaten without heating and that will not become unusable when cold. Rotate them when they expire. Pack enough for the occupants and a delay rather than only for the planned driving time.
Prevent water from becoming inaccessible
Bottled water is part of the emergency list. Keep bottles where they will not be crushed by cargo and where you can reach them without opening the hatch beside traffic. In severe cold, inspect containers for cracking or leakage before the trip.
Keep first aid separate from the repair gear
A first-aid kit should be immediately identifiable. Do not bury it under a shovel, cables or luggage. It is intended for minor injuries; serious injuries require emergency services and a safe location away from moving traffic.
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Communication, navigation and visibility
Charge before leaving and carry a backup plan
Bring a phone charger and begin with a charged phone. Save the road-information numbers before you lose service: Idaho 511 is available through ITD’s winter-driving resource, and ITD lists (208) 334-8000 as a road-information contact. Cellular coverage can be poor in parts of Idaho, so tell someone your route and expected arrival time before departure.
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Pack a local paper map as a backup to navigation apps. Emergency flares and a brightly colored scarf can help identify the vehicle or signal responders. Use any signaling device only when it is safe and follow its instructions; do not stand in a traffic lane to deploy it.
Check live conditions before you leave
- Check Idaho 511. Use the ITD winter-driving page to reach current highway information and cameras. Look for incidents, closures, restrictions and changing conditions on your planned section of SH-55.
- Check the weather forecast. Compare the forecast for departure, the drive and the expected arrival, including wind and falling temperatures.
- Inspect the vehicle. Check tires, battery, lights, washer fluid, fuel level and the condition of the emergency kit.
- Confirm chain readiness. Verify compatibility and installation instructions, then place the chains, gloves and shovel where they can be reached without unloading the vehicle.
- Share the plan. Tell a contact your route and timing, and explain where you will check in. Account for stretches with weak or absent cellular service.
- Allow extra time. Leave a margin for slower speeds, snowplows, stops and possible delays. If the live information indicates that conditions exceed your comfort or equipment, postpone the trip.
Road information is a departure-time decision, not a permanent fact. Recheck it immediately before you drive and whenever you stop with a data connection.
How to drive the route safely in winter
Reduce speed and increase following distance
Ice and packed snow reduce braking and steering grip. Slow down and leave more space than you would on dry pavement. Do not use cruise control on icy roads; you need direct control of acceleration and speed.
Expect bridges and overpasses to freeze first
Bridges and overpasses can lose heat from above and below, so they may be icy while nearby pavement still appears wet. Approach them at a controlled speed, avoid abrupt steering or braking and keep a generous gap from the vehicle ahead.
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Give snowplows room
Do not pass or follow a snowplow closely. ITD’s winter-driving guidance states, The safest place is behind the plow.
Stay far enough back to see and react, because the plow can throw snow and may stop, turn or move across the roadway while working.
Respond smoothly to a skid
If the vehicle begins to slide, do not slam on the brakes or overcorrect. ITD advises steering gently into the skid. Make small inputs, look where you want the vehicle to go and avoid sudden acceleration until the tires regain grip.
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Make the vehicle your shelter
Unless remaining in the vehicle presents an immediate danger, stay with it. A vehicle is easier for responders to locate than a person walking through snow, darkness or poor visibility. Turn on hazard lights when appropriate and use the brightly colored scarf or other signaling equipment to improve visibility.
Clear the exhaust before running the engine
If you run the engine for heat, first check that snow has not blocked the exhaust pipe. Clear it with the small shovel, then keep checking as snow falls or drifts. A blocked exhaust can allow carbon monoxide to enter the passenger compartment.
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Run the engine only as needed for warmth and charging, while keeping ventilation and the exhaust area clear. Conserve phone battery for emergency communication and location updates. Eat and drink from the emergency supplies rather than leaving the vehicle to search for services.
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Contact help with precise information
Call emergency services when there is an immediate threat to life, injury or unsafe exposure. Otherwise use available road-information or roadside assistance channels and provide your direction of travel, the nearest sign or landmark, the number of occupants and the vehicle’s color and type. Stay alert for responders and do not walk into traffic to meet them.
Assembling a kit versus buying one
A ready-made winter car emergency kit is optional. Whether you buy a kit or assemble one, compare its contents against the handbook checklist rather than relying on the package label. Confirm that it includes warmth, light with spare batteries, first aid, traction material, a shovel, water, nonperishable food, visibility or signaling equipment and phone charging. Add anything missing, and inspect every component yourself. No specific commercial kit has been tested for this trip.
Why preparation matters
ITD reported more than 16,000 crashes during inclement weather in Idaho from October 1, 2021, through April 30, 2022. That is a historical, statewide figure, not an estimate for SH-55 or for your travel date. It illustrates why a winter trip should be planned around the possibility of a delay, collision or closure rather than an uninterrupted timetable.
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The combination of a maintained but not guaranteed-bare roadway, rapidly changing weather and limited cellular service makes redundancy valuable: carry paper navigation as well as a phone, warm clothing as well as a heater, and traction equipment as well as a plan to wait. Check the live road report before departure, and be willing to turn back or delay when the conditions and your equipment do not match.
Quick Recap
Final pre-drive checklist
- Emergency kit checked; food is in date and batteries are charged.
- Blanket or sleeping bag, spare gloves, socks and wool cap are inside the passenger compartment.
- Water, energy food and first aid are accessible.
- Flashlights, flares, bright scarf, map and phone charger are packed.
- Shovel and sand or cat litter are secured where they can be reached.
- Tires, battery, lights, washer fluid and fuel have been checked.
- Chains, if carried, fit the vehicle and you have practiced installing them.
- Weather and Idaho 511 conditions have been checked immediately before departure.
- A contact knows the route and expected arrival time.
- You have allowed extra time and will avoid cruise control on icy pavement.
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