Each year, there are approximately 1,200 – 1,500 incidents and 400 – 600 deaths involving vehicles that have gone off the road and plummeted into the water. The driving public needs to plan for these types of emergencies by (A) rehearsing the steps necessary for a successful self-rescue from a vehicle in the water, and (B) having the rescue/escape tools readily available for use during this type of emergency situation. First Responder agencies need to provide the training necessary to prepare their personnel to respond to these types of incidents, and should provide the Personal Protective Equipment and rescue tools necessary for a safe and effective response and management of vehicles in the water.  

Each year within the United States, there are approximately 1,200 – 1,500 submerged vehicle incidents resulting in 400 – 600 deaths. Therefore, the public needs to plan for these types of emergencies by (A) rehearsing the steps necessary for a successful self-rescue from a vehicle in the water, and (B) having the rescue/escape tools readily available and accessible for use during this type of emergency. In addition, First Responder agencies need to provide the training necessary to prepare their personnel to respond to these types of incidents, and these First Responders should be provided with the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and rescue tools necessary for a safe and effective response to vehicles in the water. Furthermore, emergency dispatchers need to be educated to instruct callers to immediately get out of their vehicles if the vehicles are in danger of sinking.

SAFETY

Public service campaigns should be increased in an effort to educate the public about the risks of driving through flooded highways; driving in close proximity to bodies of water during snow, rain or other slippery conditions; or driving over lakes, rivers or ponds that have frozen over. The following information should be included in these efforts:

• It only takes approximately 6" to sweep a person off his/her feet, and it only takes 1′ to 2′ of water to float a vehicle off its wheels. Drivers need to heed warnings about low water crossings and do not attempt to cross flooded highways.

• 8" to 12" of new, clear, hard ice is required to drive a small vehicle onto the ice. 12" to 15" of new, clear, hard ice is required to drive a medium-sized truck onto the ice.

• Wearing seat belts will increase your chances of surviving a crash into the water.

If a vehicle leaves the road and lands in deep water, most passenger vehicles will float on the surface for a short period of time (from 30 seconds to several minutes). But, all vehicles will sink! If the water is deeper than the height of the vehicle body, it will submerge and disappear beneath the surface. Factors which effect the float time include closed, sealed, and intact windows and weather seals, as well as the design, body style, construction quality, and the condition and age of the vehicle. Because of the location of the motor in the front of the vehicle, the vehicle will immediately assume an angled nose down position in the water.

A vehicle with the windows and/or doors open will submerge faster than the same vehicle with its windows and/or doors closed. The faster the water enters the interior of the vehicle, the faster it loses its buoyancy and the quicker it descends. A vehicle that has all the windows and doors closed will initially descend slowly, but as the vehicle loses buoyancy its speed of descent will increase.

ESCAPE

Because of the relatively limited time frame for self-rescue, the decision to escape the vehicle must be made immediately. However, because of the angled nose-down position in the water and the pressure exerted by the water against the doors, as well as structural damage to the vehicle caused from the crash, it may be extremely difficult or impossible to open the driver's side and passenger doors of the vehicle in order to effect an escape. Therefore, the only avenue of escape may be through the car door windows.

Studies have shown that the electric power may stay on inside the vehicle for as much as an hour. However, once the window motors and/or switches get soaked, they will generally short out and the windows and electric door locks will no longer operate. Therefore, in order to escape through the car door windows, the occupants must be able to punch/break out the windows. If the side door windows are constructed of tempered glass, they will easily shatter using an appropriate rescue/escape tool, such as a life hammer device, or a spring-loaded window punch (i.e. ResQMe). Many of the commercially available rescue/escape tools also have an integrated seat-belt cutter/blade that provides the ability to slice away a seat belt should its release mechanism fail or jam.

The decision to escape the vehicle must be made as soon as the vehicle leaves the road and enters the water. If the occupants delay their escape from the vehicle and the vehicle begins to sink before an escape route has been established, it may not be possible to effect an escape until the water pressure has equalized inside the vehicle. By that time, it is typically too late. Also, should the vehicle land in deep water, if the water depth is less than 14′, the vehicle will usually come to rest on the bottom on all four wheels, assuming there are no large rocks or other debris on the bottom. However, water depths greater than 14′ usually results in the vehicle turning turtle and landing upside down on its roof. Needless to say, being upside down in a dark environment with water rushing in will totally disorient the occupants of the vehicle.

In order to advocate a single universal message to educate the public on how to escape from a submerging vehicle, we advocate the following:

SEATBELTS (off)

WINDOWS (open/break)

CHILDREN (removed)

GO (get out!)

In order to accomplish this, these emergency procedures should be rehearsed before the emergency occurs. Use a body reference point to identify and locate the door latch, window crank or electric window switch. As an example, the driver should practice finding the location of these by touching his knee or hip with his/her left hand and then move the hand laterally to the door. A rescue/escape tool should be immediately available for punching out the window and cutting seatbelts. This tool should be mounted on the sidewall of the driver's side compartment, attached to the key ring, or located in some other conspicuous location that can be easily accessed during an emergency. Consideration should be given to additional tools for the passenger side and rear seat compartments as well. (Note: the ResQMe spring-loaded window punch is designed to be attached to the keyring, so it is always accessible to the driver.)

If there are multiple occupants, once an escape route has been established, each occupant should hold hands to form a human chain and everyone should exit from the same route. If young children are secured in car seats, the seat belts should be removed or cut and the child removed. (Note: some car seats are sufficiently buoyant to float a child to the surface. But, you should check with the manufacturer to determine whether or not your car seats are sufficiently buoyant to do so.)