Escape skills when car crashes into water

1. Keep calm

Immediately after the car hits the water, many people will panic, making the situation worse. Panic causes the body to consume a lot of energy, along with quickly wasting the little air left in the car. Therefore, you need to stay calm to find a way to escape the car.

2. Open the car door as soon as possible

Once your car hits the water, you only have a few seconds before it sinks. In those precious few seconds, make it a priority to open a window or door as soon as you can while your car is still above water.

Once the car starts to sink, you will not be able to open any of the doors until the pressure inside and outside the car is equalized (i.e. the inside of the car is completely flooded). If all the windows are still closed, the process of equalizing the pressure inside and outside the car will take longer and the result will be death from lack of oxygen inside the car.

Try to stay calm and open the door any way you can.

3. Break the glass door

If you cannot open the window manually, or your vehicle is equipped with a power window system that does not work in water, try to break the window with your foot or any heavy object you may have at hand at the time.

This may seem counterintuitive as this will allow water to get into the car faster. However, the sooner the door is opened, the better chance it has of escaping once the pressure inside and outside the car is equalized.

There are many items used in emergency situations to break car windows such as emergency hammers; if you don't have a hammer, use any item at hand such as pliers, screwdrivers, high heels, wheel chocks, etc.

4. Don't rush to unbuckle your seat belt.

Your instinct is to unbuckle your seatbelt, but this is the wrong thing to do. When a car is submerged in water, it is easy to become disoriented, and unbuckle your seatbelt and you may be pushed away from the window or door - the place where you will escape.

You should know that several tons of water will be poured into the car and will not be able to escape while the water is entering the car; it will even be pushed away from its current position. So, please fasten your seat belt in the current position.

If the next job is to push the car door to escape, keeping the seat belt on is also a fulcrum to increase thrust while in water.

Wearing a seat belt also helps you locate your position, especially if the vehicle is upside down in free fall into water or when you are in water and water is pouring into the vehicle.

5. Swim to the surface quickly

Once out of the car, swim to the surface as quickly as possible. If you become disoriented, look for light; you can swim in the direction of bubbles.

However, be careful of your surroundings as you may encounter hard objects such as rocks and bridge pillars. As soon as you surface, signal for help as soon as possible.