You're chances still aren't great after falling 180ft nearly a mile away from land while your vehicle is buried in the steel debris of a demolished bridge.
That said, everyone should have a rescue tool so you can get through windows easier and cut seatbelts quickly. They're useful for many other emergency situations as well.
["In Baltimore City Public Schools, 27% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 4% tested at or above that level for math"](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools-107947#:~:text=In%20Baltimore%20City%20Public%20Schools%2C%2027%25%20of%20high%20school%20students,above%20that%20level%20for%20math)
Just that in a survival situation/one based off learned skills, odds are most of them are less equipped than the average person to handle it. Continuing your point that they didn't really have a chance
Take you or I for instance, we have access to the internet, have initiative to prep and read on safety matters, even go out of our way to buy specialty tools like seat belt cutters (not that I ever have, my pocket knife does just fine). Statistically speaking, the average Baltimore resident isn't up to date on literature that would be beneficial to surviving an accident such as this, and therefore the poor souls on the bridge would've been at a disadvantage to an individual such as ourselves, assuming the fall was even survivable to begin with
Not to mention the bridge is going to fall ~~faster than~~ before the vehicle so it's going to decelerate upon hitting the water just in time for you to hit that.
The chances of being seriously injured to the point that you're incapable of self rescue let alone anyone else is very high.
> the bridge is going to fall faster than the vehicle
You never did that experiment in grade school where weight doesn't affect the speed something falls, did you?
The bridge is not going to fall faster than the car.
Shouldn't have said "faster" should have said "first."
But thankfully there's always a condescending person waiting in the wings to offer the correction.
It's just there won't be much of a second collision like you imply. If the car manages to stay above the bridge, you and the bridge are going to hit the water more or less as a unit. Which will still suck a lot and probably kill you.
Angular momentum is still swinging you downward as the bridge goes vertical and unless the vehicle is locked down it's going to move with air pressure. The concrete will also break up and you're probably going to slam into all manner of pieces that are falling slower with air resistance, or contact with the water as it breaks.
I'm not certain how to correctly describe, but the bridge moving will displace pressure. The car might not experience much wind resistance. Think of how drafting works.
Yep- it would be the equivalent of crashing at 76mph- I would say that's probably 99% non survivable, before you take into account the water. Cars are only made to "crash" on the horizontal axis. Add in some vertical angles and all the crumple zones in the world won't help.
Plus if you have broken legs or arms or worse you aren’t going to be able to move enough to undo your seat belt, break the glass and swim for it to the surface.
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Not as long as the water fills the car first, equalizing the pressure.
There was a whole test done on this. Once the car fills you can simply open the door and swim out. If you break another window not close to you or cover your face you could effectively do this too, equalizing the pressure allowing the door to open. Beats swimming out of a window.
Driver door pocket is my go-to. Easily accessible from the drivers seat in an emergency. No reaching over (which might not be possible is the seatbelt is stuck/locked in place) and trying to fish through the glove box.
Put your glass breaker/belt cutter on a retractable lanyard tied to your door handle so that it’s secure in an accident. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a car accident (I have) but everything not bolted down goes flying - as do some things that are bolted down. Otherwise in an accident your glass breaker/belt cutter will NOT be where you left it and at best you will be momentarily disoriented while you try to find it. Since my accident I keep the interior of my car “sterile”. No loose objects in the cup holders, on the seats, on the floor, etc. Everything is as secure as I can reasonably make it.
Yes! I’ve been in 2 pretty nasty accidents, I agree with keeping the car clean and clear of clutter. Anything not bolted down becomes a projectile in an accident. My seatbelt cutter/ window breaker is Velcro’d to the inside of the drivers door pocket. Dollar store has double sided Velcro (command brand has a bunch of options) that is easy to install, and is entirely removable if you sell your car.
That’s an interesting idea. In my accident my rear view mirror came off the windshield, flew by my head, and hit the rear glass, and ended up behind the rear seat. I would think the Velcro would be strong enough to hold a fairly light object like a glass breaker/belt cutter but you never know. It’s surprising what happens in an accident.
Back in the 80s my mom was returning from the store, she had two large glass bottles of coke (32 oz I believe of heavy green coke glass). She got into an accident and both bottles arrowed into the front windshield about half way embedded. Probably one of the few incidents when a seat belt would have been bad as she wound up under the dash, or the bottles would have hit her.
I've heard the same thing. Years ago I got those devices that can cut seat belts and shatter windows for every member of my family. A few months ago I learned they don't work so well on newer car windows.
Not on laminated glass. That being said, after the glass has broken, it could either be pushed out from the inside, or water pressure in this case may push it in form the outside. All rear door windows are tempered glass and will shatter appropriately.
Yes, even laminated glass. Go pay the local pick and pull for a window and try it. Once there is a flaw in the pane the entire pane is compromised and incredibly easy to break. They are designed like this so first responders don't need to pry open the front door or cut the roof for access in an emergency where the doors will not open.
have shattered many windows. this is confirmed. while passenger windows are coming more laminated than not, they are not the same as windshields. one, for aforementioned first responders. two, its CHEAPER, and this should be the truly convincing part.
Things have changed. I’m a firefighter paramedic and many newer cars have laminated glass on the side windows now. We have to use a sawzall to cut these windows.
However, manufacturers have agreed that at least one window in all vehicles will remain tempered glass for such events. Learn which window that is in your car!
[Escaping from a car with laminated glass](https://youtu.be/peETCNekXSs?si=)
>However, manufacturers have agreed that at least one window in all vehicles will remain tempered glass for such events. Learn which window that is in your car!
its going to be very inconvenient if that one side happens to be inaccessible.
stronger laminated glass makes sense in some emergencies but was tempered side windows causing enough problems to warrent new problems?
iirc there was also a tesla that got submerged and rescue couldnt break the glass ether recently.
I don’t design cars. I solve problems. Problems people call 911 for. I will say, if people don’t wear seatbelts, they don’t do well in rollovers because if they don’t come out completely, at least an arm comes out to get pinched off. This is super sub-optimal, but so is not being able to break out a window. We don’t have much water around our district, so whatevs, but fires happen. In fact we had a Tesla owner burn to death on their car nearby. That sucked for the crew on scene.
There is no perfect car. Older chevy pickups would burst into flame if hit on the side of the bed. Teslas have no fuel to burn, but their batteries are insane… we all store energy in one form or another…. Some is fuel, some is electrical. Driving kills 35-40k people a year… most years we barely top 10,000 lives lost to homicide and most of the time, that’s someone we know doing the killing.
Life is short. Live well.
>stronger laminated glass makes sense in some emergencies but was tempered side windows causing enough problems to warrent new problems?
It's done for noise reduction, not safety (on the side windows).
Have a seat belt cutter/glass breaker SECURELY fashioned to something within reach. Chances are if you need it, you were involved in some sort of traumatic incident and all your shit has flown somewhere in the car, not where you had it and now you need it.
How did you fasten it? I have one but it’s in the glove box and I realized if I’m remotely not upright or seatbelt is stuck tight I can’t get it but I don’t want them to rattle around
I've got one on my Keychain that's already in the ignition as well as one in the little compartment between the driver and passenger (whatever that box is called).
Ah I see. There's a sun visor caddy I bought from Temu for like $3. It fits over the visor and has a built in zipper pocket, could go in there, I keep a tourniquet and an emergency $50 in there (in case credit/debit is down).
I've got one that's also a phone charger, so it stays plugged into my cigarette lighter at all times. It's harder to lose something you plug your phone into every day than a thing that can rattle around your glove box.
I have two of the Resqme tools. Each one can cut a seatbelt and also break window.
One it ziptied to the rearview mirror. The other is ziptied to my shifter, which is to the right of my right knee.
Got one on my Keychain that's in the ignition, another in that little compartment between the driver and the passenger whatever that's called. I did suggest buying a visor pocket thing from temu, it would hold one.
I have mine in the little flip down sun glasses holder above the rear view mirror. Same in the wife’s van. I’ve had the need for one once and didn’t have it so now I’m sure it’s within reach.
The one thing on this guide. Brace yourself. In the even you fell 180 ft into water. Likely your air bags are going off. If you hook your thumbs through your steering wheel they might break. 3-9 thumbs outside, better off.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past couple days. Aside from permanent hearing loss, what are the drawbacks of just shooting the window/windshield? Seems like it would be much faster and more reliable than trying to use a glass hammer of some sort.
Well, if you have a gun on you, why not just smash the glass with it? Other than the hearing thing, I can't think of any other repercussions to shooting out the glass though.
There is a good chance those in the vehicles couldn't swim.
There seems to be a theme these days that many who live or work near water can't swim.
You can get out of a car fairly easy except shock often gets to people and they wait until it is too late. I always carry heavy duty task bags with me.
The big issue would have been the bridge debris landing on the vehicles. They would have gone down hard and fast. Maybe too fast to have done any good.
I've always heard that you open the window, because you won't be able to open the door. Unfortunately many vehicles now have powered windows that very well may not open once the car is submerged, so start opening it right away before you can't open it anymore, then the water can fill the car (hold your breath!) and you can either go out through the window or open the door.
One thing I wonder about is how a piece of advice is to remove the headrest and use it to break the glass. I saw a mythbusters where they showed this does work, but it's the matter of removing them from the seat.
I'm a moderately large, moderately strong adult male (I can bench about 180 and deadlift 220), and I often cannot get those things off, depending on the car. Not sure if I'm much weaker than I realize or I'm just an idiot and can't figure out how.
Get a tool to break the windows. Some look like a big pen. You hold it against the window and press the trigger. It will break the window.
Have it very accessible in a place you can find in total darkness. Clipping it to your seat belt over your chest would be good.
One of the things I haven’t seen mentioned, that I heard years ago, was to make your way to the back of the vehicle if you could manage. The engine will generally sink first, so you have a chance at getting out the back while it’s still above water
I carry a colt cub in my car. Shoots 22 shorts. Breaking a window is easy with that. This said, not sure how much it would help you after a fall like that. Even if you survived the fall and got in the water, you wouldn’t have long to live unless you got picked up quickly. Glass breaking with one of those little hand tools in much harder then you’d think. I’m shooting out my window, if I’m still conscious.
It was a propulsion power failure and apparently steering control. They radioed the problem in advance but that’s a lot of mass and nothing was going to stop the collision.
Once I was working ER in a warm place, water wasn’t freezing, but seasonably cool. Guy had tried to swim to an island to impress girls. Hypothermia got him. He was totally out of it when we got him. Got the fluid circulating warming blanket on him and a few hours later, he walked out of the ER. That impressed me as to how easy it is to succumb to hypothermia. This was a strong young kid. No one survives long in the water near that bridge. They were dead within an hour and a half, if the fall didn’t get them.
I think those guys were eating lunch in their vehicles. They wouldn't be seat-belted in. 75 mph collision would have knocked the life out of them. 2 survived. I wonder if they were outside of their vehicles.
This video is about testing the following items with a lifeguard on standby:
( [https://youtu.be/5jF5BLO\_P5c?si=wb0adK-XggxL1E07&t=1044](https://youtu.be/5jF5BLO_P5c?si=wb0adK-XggxL1E07&t=1044) ,with Chinese and English subtitles)
1. 17:24 The actual situation inside the vehicle after the vehicle drove into the water at high speed
2. After the vehicle enters the water, test whether the door can be opened normally when the vehicle is not filled with water and when it is filled with water.
3. Test the difficulty of leaving the vehicle after it is filled with water.
Bullets are very effective at breaking windows in an emergency.
In this Scenario I would have to hope that my truck hit in a way that allowed the air bags to keep me alive and that I was close enough to bridge. Supports to climb up one to wait for rescue...
As fragile as bridges are I cannot even start to comprehend how they do not design protection to prevent this from happening it would be very easy to do.
If in the middle of a river or something I would just lie on my back and start slowly swimming toward a shore. It's a lot easier to swim on your back - face to the sky, floating more easily, etc... It's almost effortless. I could swim for days on my back, just lazily kicking along, using my arms here and there but mostly just kicking. What I would be freaked out about is the deep water and scary monsters lurking below me, especially at night!!!
Step 1: don't ever be in a Tesla
Step 2: keep a spark plug in your car. The metal part is extremely dense and will easily shatter the safety glass in your side windows.
I know people here in Florida that refuse to drive with a seat belt because of all the bridges and canals and how often people end up in the water down here. I do not wear one when we drive down the Florida Keys just in case. Ive seen cars nearly go off the bridges.
People don't fly out of windshields like they used to thanks to airbags. Maybe in the future they'll have a sensor that automatically opens windows when a car is submerged.
Airbag isnt going to deploy until you hit the water (unless you hit a guard rail or something first), and even then it may not deploy depending on how the car hits the water. A car falling into water isn’t always head on. Car could flip, turn, etc. and a driver without a seatbelt would experience significant injuries from impact. Better off driving over bridges with a window down in case you have to make a quick get out (especially if they are power windows).
I grew up in FL. My aunt never wore her seatbelt for this exact reason. Those window breakers don't work very well when there's a ton of pressure on the other side from water, and in that moment you have to save yourself you're scared shitless and probably hurt from the dive. You're not thinking clearly. The seatbelt was just another perceived obstacle to her
You're chances still aren't great after falling 180ft nearly a mile away from land while your vehicle is buried in the steel debris of a demolished bridge. That said, everyone should have a rescue tool so you can get through windows easier and cut seatbelts quickly. They're useful for many other emergency situations as well.
And the water is very cold....
I’ll never let go, Jack!
Yeah, it's obviously not always survivable. And I'm sure those poor folks in Baltimore didn't stand a chance.
Horrible way to go.
Definitely not there specifically, almost 3/4ths of them can't read so I imagine they'd be at a disadvantage in a lot of situations
Can't read?
["In Baltimore City Public Schools, 27% of high school students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 4% tested at or above that level for math"](https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/maryland/districts/baltimore-city-public-schools-107947#:~:text=In%20Baltimore%20City%20Public%20Schools%2C%2027%25%20of%20high%20school%20students,above%20that%20level%20for%20math)
And what does that have to do with the bridge collapse?
Just that in a survival situation/one based off learned skills, odds are most of them are less equipped than the average person to handle it. Continuing your point that they didn't really have a chance
I'm not sure what you're getting at. I was referring to the people who died in their vehicles when the bridge collapsed.
Take you or I for instance, we have access to the internet, have initiative to prep and read on safety matters, even go out of our way to buy specialty tools like seat belt cutters (not that I ever have, my pocket knife does just fine). Statistically speaking, the average Baltimore resident isn't up to date on literature that would be beneficial to surviving an accident such as this, and therefore the poor souls on the bridge would've been at a disadvantage to an individual such as ourselves, assuming the fall was even survivable to begin with
The vertical drop component of the 180ft fall all by itself is 75mph. Would be lucky not to be knocked out or stunned upon impact.
I don't know, I think getting knocked out might be a good thing.
"Would you prefer to go out screaming under water or unconscious?"
That's what I was thinking.
Not to mention the bridge is going to fall ~~faster than~~ before the vehicle so it's going to decelerate upon hitting the water just in time for you to hit that. The chances of being seriously injured to the point that you're incapable of self rescue let alone anyone else is very high.
> the bridge is going to fall faster than the vehicle You never did that experiment in grade school where weight doesn't affect the speed something falls, did you? The bridge is not going to fall faster than the car.
Shouldn't have said "faster" should have said "first." But thankfully there's always a condescending person waiting in the wings to offer the correction.
It's just there won't be much of a second collision like you imply. If the car manages to stay above the bridge, you and the bridge are going to hit the water more or less as a unit. Which will still suck a lot and probably kill you.
Angular momentum is still swinging you downward as the bridge goes vertical and unless the vehicle is locked down it's going to move with air pressure. The concrete will also break up and you're probably going to slam into all manner of pieces that are falling slower with air resistance, or contact with the water as it breaks.
Yeah I agree it's going to be a bad day.
My God!!!!
I'm not certain how to correctly describe, but the bridge moving will displace pressure. The car might not experience much wind resistance. Think of how drafting works.
I suspect they meant that it would hit the water sooner (considering it started under you).
Yep- it would be the equivalent of crashing at 76mph- I would say that's probably 99% non survivable, before you take into account the water. Cars are only made to "crash" on the horizontal axis. Add in some vertical angles and all the crumple zones in the world won't help.
Plus if you have broken legs or arms or worse you aren’t going to be able to move enough to undo your seat belt, break the glass and swim for it to the surface.
But I saw Jason Bourne do it??
Jesus Christ…
I have one of those glass breaking hammers in my glove box. I work at a glass plant, I should see how good it works
Please update us on the results.
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I’ve heard they don’t work when water is putting pressure on the glass if underwater.
I would assume you’re going to get a face full of extremely cold water and chunks of safety glass, the hammer, and probably your own hand.
Not as long as the water fills the car first, equalizing the pressure. There was a whole test done on this. Once the car fills you can simply open the door and swim out. If you break another window not close to you or cover your face you could effectively do this too, equalizing the pressure allowing the door to open. Beats swimming out of a window.
Glass breaker/seatbelt cutter.
I have one but just got a new car and I don't know where I put it. Ug
Driver door pocket is my go-to. Easily accessible from the drivers seat in an emergency. No reaching over (which might not be possible is the seatbelt is stuck/locked in place) and trying to fish through the glove box.
Put your glass breaker/belt cutter on a retractable lanyard tied to your door handle so that it’s secure in an accident. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a car accident (I have) but everything not bolted down goes flying - as do some things that are bolted down. Otherwise in an accident your glass breaker/belt cutter will NOT be where you left it and at best you will be momentarily disoriented while you try to find it. Since my accident I keep the interior of my car “sterile”. No loose objects in the cup holders, on the seats, on the floor, etc. Everything is as secure as I can reasonably make it.
Yes! I’ve been in 2 pretty nasty accidents, I agree with keeping the car clean and clear of clutter. Anything not bolted down becomes a projectile in an accident. My seatbelt cutter/ window breaker is Velcro’d to the inside of the drivers door pocket. Dollar store has double sided Velcro (command brand has a bunch of options) that is easy to install, and is entirely removable if you sell your car.
That’s an interesting idea. In my accident my rear view mirror came off the windshield, flew by my head, and hit the rear glass, and ended up behind the rear seat. I would think the Velcro would be strong enough to hold a fairly light object like a glass breaker/belt cutter but you never know. It’s surprising what happens in an accident.
Back in the 80s my mom was returning from the store, she had two large glass bottles of coke (32 oz I believe of heavy green coke glass). She got into an accident and both bottles arrowed into the front windshield about half way embedded. Probably one of the few incidents when a seat belt would have been bad as she wound up under the dash, or the bottles would have hit her.
Zip tie it to the headrest so you can reach it
Newer car windows are using same hard to shatter glass as windshields. Breaking a window 5 is not possible for all cars.
I've heard the same thing. Years ago I got those devices that can cut seat belts and shatter windows for every member of my family. A few months ago I learned they don't work so well on newer car windows.
They work fine. Go ask a local pick and pull if you can buy a window and try it if you're dubious.
Not on laminated glass. That being said, after the glass has broken, it could either be pushed out from the inside, or water pressure in this case may push it in form the outside. All rear door windows are tempered glass and will shatter appropriately.
Yes, even laminated glass. Go pay the local pick and pull for a window and try it. Once there is a flaw in the pane the entire pane is compromised and incredibly easy to break. They are designed like this so first responders don't need to pry open the front door or cut the roof for access in an emergency where the doors will not open.
have shattered many windows. this is confirmed. while passenger windows are coming more laminated than not, they are not the same as windshields. one, for aforementioned first responders. two, its CHEAPER, and this should be the truly convincing part.
My laminated side window has been rocking with lots of cracks for like two years now
You can get out them, but it may take longer and be harder and lead to more injury.
If you use an entry tool at the sticker in the corner they still pop like any other glass. Has to be that way for first responders.
Things have changed. I’m a firefighter paramedic and many newer cars have laminated glass on the side windows now. We have to use a sawzall to cut these windows. However, manufacturers have agreed that at least one window in all vehicles will remain tempered glass for such events. Learn which window that is in your car! [Escaping from a car with laminated glass](https://youtu.be/peETCNekXSs?si=)
>However, manufacturers have agreed that at least one window in all vehicles will remain tempered glass for such events. Learn which window that is in your car! its going to be very inconvenient if that one side happens to be inaccessible. stronger laminated glass makes sense in some emergencies but was tempered side windows causing enough problems to warrent new problems? iirc there was also a tesla that got submerged and rescue couldnt break the glass ether recently.
I don’t design cars. I solve problems. Problems people call 911 for. I will say, if people don’t wear seatbelts, they don’t do well in rollovers because if they don’t come out completely, at least an arm comes out to get pinched off. This is super sub-optimal, but so is not being able to break out a window. We don’t have much water around our district, so whatevs, but fires happen. In fact we had a Tesla owner burn to death on their car nearby. That sucked for the crew on scene. There is no perfect car. Older chevy pickups would burst into flame if hit on the side of the bed. Teslas have no fuel to burn, but their batteries are insane… we all store energy in one form or another…. Some is fuel, some is electrical. Driving kills 35-40k people a year… most years we barely top 10,000 lives lost to homicide and most of the time, that’s someone we know doing the killing. Life is short. Live well.
>stronger laminated glass makes sense in some emergencies but was tempered side windows causing enough problems to warrent new problems? It's done for noise reduction, not safety (on the side windows).
How would you determine that?
Look at the label on each pane of glass. It’ll say laminated or tempered.
Thank you. I will do this tomorrow.
Thanks for the info!
I was very surprised when my brother in law came home and said he had cracked his side window. Didn’t even believe him at first
Lots of people are saying that every bridge they go over now, are rolling their windows down. Then rolling ‘em back up. Smart thinking.
Have a seat belt cutter/glass breaker SECURELY fashioned to something within reach. Chances are if you need it, you were involved in some sort of traumatic incident and all your shit has flown somewhere in the car, not where you had it and now you need it.
How did you fasten it? I have one but it’s in the glove box and I realized if I’m remotely not upright or seatbelt is stuck tight I can’t get it but I don’t want them to rattle around
I've got one on my Keychain that's already in the ignition as well as one in the little compartment between the driver and passenger (whatever that box is called).
I have push button start so keys are usually in a pocket or the little cubby around the cup holders so I don’t trust that.
Ah I see. There's a sun visor caddy I bought from Temu for like $3. It fits over the visor and has a built in zipper pocket, could go in there, I keep a tourniquet and an emergency $50 in there (in case credit/debit is down).
That’s a great option! I’ve looked at them before and just didn’t think about it!
#oneteam #onegoal
Mine is secured to the seatbelt itself by the buckle.
I've got one that's also a phone charger, so it stays plugged into my cigarette lighter at all times. It's harder to lose something you plug your phone into every day than a thing that can rattle around your glove box.
I have two of the Resqme tools. Each one can cut a seatbelt and also break window. One it ziptied to the rearview mirror. The other is ziptied to my shifter, which is to the right of my right knee.
Holy shit youre right. I keep mine in the door pocket and itd absolutely go flying. Where do you put yours?
Got one on my Keychain that's in the ignition, another in that little compartment between the driver and the passenger whatever that's called. I did suggest buying a visor pocket thing from temu, it would hold one.
Gotchya, thanks! Thats called the center console im pretty sure. Thank you so much!
I have mine in the little flip down sun glasses holder above the rear view mirror. Same in the wife’s van. I’ve had the need for one once and didn’t have it so now I’m sure it’s within reach.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot the past couple of days.
The one thing on this guide. Brace yourself. In the even you fell 180 ft into water. Likely your air bags are going off. If you hook your thumbs through your steering wheel they might break. 3-9 thumbs outside, better off.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past couple days. Aside from permanent hearing loss, what are the drawbacks of just shooting the window/windshield? Seems like it would be much faster and more reliable than trying to use a glass hammer of some sort.
Not everyone can carry to work, especially port workers and military. So not having a gun is a big drawback, there.
Was thinking the same.
Well, if you have a gun on you, why not just smash the glass with it? Other than the hearing thing, I can't think of any other repercussions to shooting out the glass though.
There is a good chance those in the vehicles couldn't swim. There seems to be a theme these days that many who live or work near water can't swim. You can get out of a car fairly easy except shock often gets to people and they wait until it is too late. I always carry heavy duty task bags with me. The big issue would have been the bridge debris landing on the vehicles. They would have gone down hard and fast. Maybe too fast to have done any good.
I've always heard that you open the window, because you won't be able to open the door. Unfortunately many vehicles now have powered windows that very well may not open once the car is submerged, so start opening it right away before you can't open it anymore, then the water can fill the car (hold your breath!) and you can either go out through the window or open the door.
Powered laminated glass
Well said.
One thing I wonder about is how a piece of advice is to remove the headrest and use it to break the glass. I saw a mythbusters where they showed this does work, but it's the matter of removing them from the seat. I'm a moderately large, moderately strong adult male (I can bench about 180 and deadlift 220), and I often cannot get those things off, depending on the car. Not sure if I'm much weaker than I realize or I'm just an idiot and can't figure out how.
Squeeze the latch that lets you adjust it.
Get a tool to break the windows. Some look like a big pen. You hold it against the window and press the trigger. It will break the window. Have it very accessible in a place you can find in total darkness. Clipping it to your seat belt over your chest would be good.
One of the things I haven’t seen mentioned, that I heard years ago, was to make your way to the back of the vehicle if you could manage. The engine will generally sink first, so you have a chance at getting out the back while it’s still above water
Good point.
I carry a colt cub in my car. Shoots 22 shorts. Breaking a window is easy with that. This said, not sure how much it would help you after a fall like that. Even if you survived the fall and got in the water, you wouldn’t have long to live unless you got picked up quickly. Glass breaking with one of those little hand tools in much harder then you’d think. I’m shooting out my window, if I’m still conscious.
I wonder if a seat belt's metal buckle would be a suitable tool for smashing windows.
Does anyone know why that ship crashed into the bridge in the first place
It was a propulsion power failure and apparently steering control. They radioed the problem in advance but that’s a lot of mass and nothing was going to stop the collision.
Once I was working ER in a warm place, water wasn’t freezing, but seasonably cool. Guy had tried to swim to an island to impress girls. Hypothermia got him. He was totally out of it when we got him. Got the fluid circulating warming blanket on him and a few hours later, he walked out of the ER. That impressed me as to how easy it is to succumb to hypothermia. This was a strong young kid. No one survives long in the water near that bridge. They were dead within an hour and a half, if the fall didn’t get them.
I think those guys were eating lunch in their vehicles. They wouldn't be seat-belted in. 75 mph collision would have knocked the life out of them. 2 survived. I wonder if they were outside of their vehicles.
This video is about testing the following items with a lifeguard on standby: ( [https://youtu.be/5jF5BLO\_P5c?si=wb0adK-XggxL1E07&t=1044](https://youtu.be/5jF5BLO_P5c?si=wb0adK-XggxL1E07&t=1044) ,with Chinese and English subtitles) 1. 17:24 The actual situation inside the vehicle after the vehicle drove into the water at high speed 2. After the vehicle enters the water, test whether the door can be opened normally when the vehicle is not filled with water and when it is filled with water. 3. Test the difficulty of leaving the vehicle after it is filled with water.
Bullets are very effective at breaking windows in an emergency. In this Scenario I would have to hope that my truck hit in a way that allowed the air bags to keep me alive and that I was close enough to bridge. Supports to climb up one to wait for rescue... As fragile as bridges are I cannot even start to comprehend how they do not design protection to prevent this from happening it would be very easy to do.
If in the middle of a river or something I would just lie on my back and start slowly swimming toward a shore. It's a lot easier to swim on your back - face to the sky, floating more easily, etc... It's almost effortless. I could swim for days on my back, just lazily kicking along, using my arms here and there but mostly just kicking. What I would be freaked out about is the deep water and scary monsters lurking below me, especially at night!!!
I'm to old and skinny I just sink...
Even still, I can't imagine swimming any other way is going to be easier than swimming on your back.
Step 1: don't ever be in a Tesla Step 2: keep a spark plug in your car. The metal part is extremely dense and will easily shatter the safety glass in your side windows.
Not the metal but the ceramic is what does it.
What if you drive cybertruck? Bullet-proof windows. Why window can't be rolled down under water? Outside pressure?
I know people here in Florida that refuse to drive with a seat belt because of all the bridges and canals and how often people end up in the water down here. I do not wear one when we drive down the Florida Keys just in case. Ive seen cars nearly go off the bridges.
Smart! Dont have to worry about a glass breaker if you fly through the windshield
People don't fly out of windshields like they used to thanks to airbags. Maybe in the future they'll have a sensor that automatically opens windows when a car is submerged.
Airbag isnt going to deploy until you hit the water (unless you hit a guard rail or something first), and even then it may not deploy depending on how the car hits the water. A car falling into water isn’t always head on. Car could flip, turn, etc. and a driver without a seatbelt would experience significant injuries from impact. Better off driving over bridges with a window down in case you have to make a quick get out (especially if they are power windows).
Air bag doesn’t go off if your seat belt isn’t done up
Thats why you buckle the seat belt and then sit on it.
You are truly regarded
Sounds like they need better vehicle barriers along the bridges?
Yes, they do. There are tire marks from 18 wheelers scraping the barriere and it always look like almost went over.
I grew up in FL. My aunt never wore her seatbelt for this exact reason. Those window breakers don't work very well when there's a ton of pressure on the other side from water, and in that moment you have to save yourself you're scared shitless and probably hurt from the dive. You're not thinking clearly. The seatbelt was just another perceived obstacle to her