Any car accident is frightening, but an accident in which your vehicle is thrown into the water, with you trapped inside, is absolutely terrifying. Such accidents are particularly dangerous due to the risk of drowning, but the fact is that most deaths are a result of panic, not having a plan and not understanding what is happening to the car in the water.By adopting a brace position to survive the impact and acting decisively when the car ends up in the water,even a flood swollen river, being trapped in a sinking vehicle is survivable. Escape usually requires only a cool head, a little know-how and discipline to procedure. Dave Comeau, senior trainer at Survival Systems Training Ltd, the worlds leading underwater escape training company, walks you through every drivers worst nightmare.


Steps

1. Brace yourself for impact. If you know you are going off the road and into a body of water such as a river or even off a higher structure such as a pier adopt a brace position by placing both hands on opposite sides of your head, making an "X" with your arms and letting the outside arm/ hand grab the shoulder belt. While the impact injuries may not be fatal, the flailing injuries can injure your hands or arms, reducing your ability to open windows or doors and egress.
2. Remain calm. The preceding events will no doubt get your adrenaline pumping, but don't panic. You must move quickly and effectively to ensure your survival. Take a few breaths to calm yourself down, but don't spend more than about 2 seconds doing this.
3. Is the car floating? Then quickly move to unlock the door or open the window. If there is still time, get yourself out before the water starts to pour in.
4. If the car is sinking rapidly, you will have to wait until the car interior floods to open windows or doors, as the water pressure against both doors & windows is greater than the window handle or electric window can handle. While most people believe that electric windows will short out, even sea water will not interfere with a cars electrical system for at least several minutes, allowing you to use the electric window motors.
5. If the water is starting to approach the window, get the windows open and let the water pour in. KEEP YOUR SEATBELT ON. This is very counterintuitive, however if you instinctively release your seatbelt, you have no leverage to open doors and may, due to underwater disorientation, end up moving away from the window or door opening. Several tons of water will enter the car cabin. You cannot egress through this ingress of water and if you release your seatbelt the water entry will move you away from your seat by the window.
6. While you can see it, place your outside hand (the hand closest to the door / window) on the door latch or window lever / switch. If you are underwater and unable to see, use physical reference by starting your outside hand from your hip, feeling along until you locate the latch. Try this sometime with your eyes closed, before you end up underwater
7. Once the car has flooded, put the hand closest to the window on the window frame, and with your inside hand, release your seatbelt. Remember it will be down by your hip on the right side (left for our British friends). The buckle is smooth and the release button may be hard to find so sometime when you can practice closing your eyes and try finding & releasing the buckle.
8. Pull your self out head first using upper body strength, but don't kick.
9. If there are other adults in the car, they should read this article and save themselves. Do not try to do too much by attempting to save all passengers. If you ride regularly with people and drive by water, discuss what to do if the car goes into the water. Anticipation & planning are critical to surviving life threatening emergencies like this one.
10. Children & infants are another matter. In the event you're heading for the water and there are kids in the car tell them to brace. Everyone who drives children should teach them to take a brace position. Crossed arms, hands grabbing the 3 or 4 point harness (most infant car seats have four point harness...it may not be realistic to train your 2 year old how to take a brace position)however kids up to ten years old will have a booster seat with over the shoulder seatbelts and are easily capable of assuming a brace position. Make it a game...drive along and suddenly yell "BRACE BRACE" and see if they do it without hesitating. Tell the child to breath normally until the water is almost up to thier chest then take a big breath and hold their nose. Once the car is flooded, you may have to release your belt to get to them (if they are in the back due to airbags) and release their belt. If you drive a pick up truck with disabled airbags they will be a front seat passenger, just reach across and release their belt. Try to maintain a physical reference with the seat and locate / release the childs belt, grab them and egress them out the window first before following them out. I would highly recommend you try releasing your belt and locating thier belt in the back from the front seat sometime (on land) with your eyes closed.
11. If you have electrically operated windows that are not working then breaking the windows is the only remaining opition. The side windows and rear window are tempered, which means that they will break when struck hard enough with a pointed object. There are special tools called "window punches" (a spring-loaded center punch) and other tools designed for this purpose. Keep one handy and close to you in the front seat. The windshield, however, is actually two pieces of glass laminated together with a thin strip of plastic in-between. You will not be able to break through the windshield. Don't bother trying. Break a window let the water flood the car cabin, grab the window frame, release your seatbelt and pulling yourself out. Don't bother trying to open the door if the car is partway submerged, since the water pressure against the door from the outside is more then you can overcome. However keep in mind if you are already under water that when you break the window, water will rapidly flow into the car. This is frightening, but try to remain calm. Without allowing water into the car to balance out the pressure acting on the car from the outside, it will be impossible for your passengers to open the door and escape. As for the driver, once you break the window and the water floods in (about 2-5 seconds)reference(hold) the window frame with the outside hand, release your seatbelt with the inside hand and pull yourself out with your upper body strength, taking care not to kick your feet, you could contact another passenger and send them back inside.
12. Swim to the surface as quickly as possible. Push off the car and swim to the surface. If you don’t know which way to swim, look for light and swim toward it or follow any bubbles you see as they will be going up, or allow yourself to float for a moment. You will eventually start to float towards the surface. Be aware of your surroundings as you swim and surface. You may have to deal with a strong current or obstacles such as rocks, concrete bridge supports, or even passing boats. Avoid injuring yourself on these things, and use them to your advantage if you are too injured or exhausted to make it to land once you surface.
13. Get medical attention as soon as possible. The adrenaline in your bloodstream after the escape may make you unable to immediately detect any other injuries you may have sustained in the accident.

Tips

• If all else fails, your last resort should be to sit in your car until it completely fills with water, there will then be equal pressure in the water you are in and the outside of your car. Open the door, reference the window frame, release your seatbelt and pull yourself out using upper body strength and swim to safety.
• Your clothing and heavy objects in your pockets can make you sink. Be mentally prepared to kick off your shoes and remove heavy outer clothing such as jackets if necessary. The less clothing you have on the easier swimming will be. Even your pants (especially denim) will weigh you down significantly.
  • It is very difficult to direct other people in this situation.*Be prepared and discuss the possibility BEFORE it happens. A variety of emergency products are available that can help you break your car window. Small spring-loaded hammers or punches (“power punches”) may provide the easiest and most portable solution, but you could even carry your own hammer. Just make sure your tool is easily accessible at all times.
• If you don’t have a special tool to break the windows, use anything you can. Hammers, screwdrivers, and steering wheel locks are very good. You can also elbow the window, or try to kick it out, but you will have to give it all you’ve got.
• Side and rear windows are the best options for escape. Front windows (windshields) are made with safety glass, which will stick together when broken and which may thus be difficult to remove. Some more expensive cars also use safety glass for the sides.
  • While you almost certainly won’t be able to open a door that’s at all submerged in the water, it’s valuable to note that the end of the car that contains the engine will usually sink fastest, often leaving the car at an angle so that part of it (usually the back) is above water for a while. You may thus be able to open some doors, but not others, while the car is still floating.
    • If you have electric doors and windows, if you can, fully lower the windows upon contact with the water before they short out. When the electrical system goes out you may not be able to lower them and the doors will only unlock manually.
• You will be able to open the car door once the car has filled with water because the pressure on the door has equalized. However, you will have to locate the latch with little or no visual reference. As the car is flooding, place your hand on the door latch.
  • Don't bother turning your lights off- even turn them on if you are unlikely to be able to point out your vehicle or escape from it - the light's electronics are usually waterproofed, and the lights themselves will help rescuers find your vehicle. Electric shock is very unlikely - and almost certainly not dangerous in these situations.

Warnings

• • Don't take anything heavy or unnecessary with you, and remember that everything is unnecessary in this situation. If your wallet and cell phone are already in your pockets, you can leave them in there, but don’t try to collect other belongings.
  • Don’t wait for help. Rescuers will most likely not be able to reach you in time, and even if they do, there’s usually not much they can do for you. You’re on your own.