As you can see in the image above, this is a bad car accident. One that likely resulted in serious injuries to the passengers in both vehicles. It might be several minutes before emergency services will arrive to help you. What do you do till they arrive?

Sit there with your seat belt and enjoy the smell of all that leaking gasoline?

What you should do is react to the situation you are in. Shake off the brain fog you have from that airbag going off in your face, do a quick assessment of your injuries, and GET OUT of the vehicle as fast as you can. Grab your extraction knife and flashlight kit and go to work.

Oh wait, you don’t have one, do you?

The kind of knife you need in a car accident is not the kind you need to skin a bear in the woods. It needs to be able to do a couple of things besides just be sharp.

It needs a punch to break the side windows in your car doors for ventilation and escape.

Then, it needs a special seatbelt cutter that can get through that nylon webbing of your jammed seatbelt. (Yes, the releases jam pretty often in an accident.)

It also needs a saw-type blade to cut away plastic and other crushed material that might have one of your feet trapped.

You also need a flashlight to see in order to do these things in the dark or, God forbid, at the bottom of a canal.

It really doesn’t have to cost a fortune, either.

The SOFREP Store offers a reasonably priced but high-quality extraction knife and flashlight from CKB products that we think fits the bill perfectly in an emergency like this.

This combo from CKB Products combines a perfectly sized knife and light in a single case (which we think is very important) for $29,99. The light runs on three AAA batteries and has a screw-back case. This is a good feature because you can unscrew the case slightly to disconnect the rear battery terminal which prolongs the life of the batteries quite a bit. When you need, just twist the back a turn, and switch it on.

We also prefer the saw-type blade over the single-edge sharp blade you see in other knives as it means a smaller chance of cutting yourself up trying to get loose. On the handle is a razor-sharp seatbelt cutter. To cut a seatbelt, remember to use a diagonal angle. We’ve seen some small compact designs for these types of knives but we think a small size makes them harder to handle and use without getting cut up. Especially when you are injured and stressed. By comparison, this knife measures 8″ open, 4-3/4″ closed and the stainless steel blade is 3-1/2.” So, the blade’s length allows you to carry this blade in most states as a tool rather than a concealed weapon.

There is also a heavy-duty nylon case which we like a lot. Its distinct size, feel, and bright orange color will help you find it in the dark and amid the confusion following an accident. It also keeps the light and the knife together. Also, it makes for a quick grab-and-go if you happen to come upon an accident and want to be a Good Samaritan.

You can buy the CKB kit by clicking on the button below.

Flashlight & Knife Kit