What would you do if you were trapped in a sinking car? Every year, people die from finding themselves in this situation. Even though this occurrence represents only a small percentage of annual auto accidents, it does happen to about 400 vehicles a year in North America, according to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100.
People accidentally drive or slide off bridges or docks, get caught in flooding, or get trapped by the tide on beaches. These sorts of incidents, sadly, have a high mortality rate because the people in the vehicle panic and don’t know what to do to save themselves.
After years of the issue being largely ignored, scientists, traffic safety groups, and law enforcement started paying a lot more attention about a decade ago.
Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht from the University of Manitoba turned his mind to examining this terrifying question. In 2010, he orchestrated 100 vehicle submersions, himself playing the driver in about a third of them.
He gathered his results and published them in the August issue of Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine that same year. His research was funded by the government of Manitoba, with an eye toward developing scientifically-based ideas about how to save yourself in such an event.
Giesbrecht said that conducting the research was terrifying. The first time that he was behind the wheel when a crane dropped him into a lake in an old Ford Tempo, he sat in the car and waited for the water to cover the door, thinking that then the pressure would equalize and he would be able open the door.
When he tried and failed to open it, he realized that the pressure wouldn’t equalize until there was no air left in the car at all. On figuring this out, he took a deep breath of what air was left, rolled down his car’s window, and escaped.
He reported that even knowing what was going to happen and having a scuba tank on hand to protect him if the car fully submerged, the experience gave him a huge scare. He added that even with months of preparation behind him, it felt like it was still all he could do to escape.
According to the Globe and Mail’s report on the subject, these are the things you should know if you are ever caught in this situation:
Even though it’s not an official item in Giesbrecht’s list, it needs to be said that the MOST important thing to successfully escape is not to panic.
Keep the steps in mind, and just keep moving. Car and Driver outline the same steps but add the notes that you should make sure your door is unlocked at the same time that you’re lowering your window and that if you can’t open or break the window, you need to wait for the car’s cabin to fill with water. Once that happens, it will still be difficult to open the door but not impossible.
Most people will never need to take advantage of having these tips, but for the few who do, remembering Dr. Giesbrecht’s simple steps could save your life and the lives of your loved ones.
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