Safety
First aid & emergency planning
Trip plans, first-aid kits for trauma and burns, emergency communication and what to do if a rider is hurt far from help.
Quick answer
Leave a written trip plan with someone at home, carry a first-aid kit that covers bleeding, sprains and burns, carry a way to call for help without cell service, and take a first-aid course. Ride with at least one other machine when you can.
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Before you go
- Trip plan: route, camp spots, vehicle descriptions, who is going, check-in time and what to do if you miss it.
- Weather and fire restrictions.
- Every rider knows where the first-aid kit and messenger are and how to use the SOS.
First-aid kit
- Tourniquet and hemostatic gauze (get trained), pressure bandages
- SAM-type splint, elastic wraps
- Burn gel and dressings (exhausts and stoves)
- Blister care, tape, wound closure strips
- Personal medications, antihistamine, pain relievers
- Emergency blanket, trauma shears, nitrile gloves
If someone is hurt
- Make the scene safe (engines off, park on the uphill side).
- Check responsiveness, breathing and severe bleeding.
- Use your satellite messenger or PLB SOS for serious injuries; give location, injury, and number in the group.
- Keep the patient warm and do not move them if a spinal injury is possible.
Take a wilderness first-aid course. Printable safety checklist.
Product picks
Sources
Researched Oct 25, 2026. Rules, specs and prices change; confirm with the source.