There are many things that could go wrong and lead to a personal disaster that we may need to overcome. I’m not talking about a large-scale disaster, such as a hurricane or earthquake, I’m talking about something that may happen on the spur of the moment and affect us in our family.
One of the possibilities is being in an automobile and suddenly finding ourselves in the water. If we are only in a few inches of water, that may not be as big of a problem but what if you drive off of a bridge and end up in a lake? Knowing what to do is going to make a difference between life and death.
First of all, the best thing you can do is not to panic. You will have at least a little time while the car sinks into the water in order to react. The car will not automatically drop to the bottom of the lake, you will have time.
Remove your seatbelt first of all to give yourself the opportunity to move around. You should also prepare anyone else in the vehicle to exit when the opportunity presents itself.
Next, you should either put down a window if you still have power to the window or you should pop the window by using the seatbelt clip or another metal item. It is possible to break one of the side windows by forcing something metal into it quickly. The windshield will not break.
Finally, swim away from the vehicle and up to the surface of the water. If you get disoriented, you can always look for any bubbles and follow them in the direction they are going. Bubbles always travel to the surface.
If you aren’t able to break a window, you may still be able to get out of the car by opening the door. This might not happen right away and you need to keep a calm head in order to do it properly.
In order to open the door, you will need to wait until the car sinks far enough that the pressure equalizes as the car fills with water. As long as you act quickly, you will not be very far below the surface and you can easily exit the vehicle and swim to the top.
At that point, it’s a matter of getting out of the water. That is a different scenario, but it is one that you should consider at another time.
Watch this video because it explains in more detail how to exit a vehicle when it is sinking in deep water: