Vehicle Submersion
One Minute To Save Your Life
A Fatal Kind of Accident
Vehicle submersion doesn’t just happen when you’re driving offroad or accidentally fall into a lake or a river. It happens every day on our roads and it is made worse by natural disasters, such as hurricanes and flash floods. Climate change will increase rising water and flash floods on roadways, leading to increasing injuries and fatalities in vehicle submersion.
Our solution improves climate-resilience of the transportation system by protecting occupants trapped in climate-fueled rising waters and floods from drowning in their vehicles.
Where There is Flood Water, There is Danger
When we think of a sinking vehicle, we tend to think of large bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, canals and coastlines.
The reality is that potentially life-threatening situations exist whenever water can press against the side windows, locking them in place and trapping passengers.
Large Water Bodies
This is what we typically think about when we think vehicle submersion. This is what happens when the driver plunges or drives into a lake, river, canal, etc…
Floods and Flash Floods
Did you know 74% of drivers would risk driving through flood water, despite it being the leading cause of death in a flood?
Wherever there is a flood, there is potential for life-threatening vehicle submersion situations. Flash floods catch people off guard. Limited visibility and potential hidden dangers such as washed out roadbeds and underwater obstructions can cause drivers to lose control of their vehicle as they shift off the road or into other lanes endangering their life and the lives of others.
Just 15 cm of water can cause loss of control or stalling. Water flows fast and when the car is floating, nothing can be done to control it.
Sinkholes
Sinkholes can pose unexpected threats to vehicle occupants. What at first appears as shallow water on a road’s surface can actually hide a much deeper safety risk whereby a car can get sucked into the sinkhole.
Why Fatality is so High
Vehicle submersion is a terrifying situation. Moments after impact with water, the severity of the situation becomes quite real as you realize that water is rapidly rising around your feet. Panic takes over as you try to open the door – which doesn’t budge.
It seems obvious to reach for your phone in an emergency, but cellphone calls made by people trapped inside a sinking vehicle are rarely successful. That’s because there simply isn’t enough time to wait for help to arrive. You have about one minute to get out. No rescue system will get to you in that time.
To survive, you must immediately take the correct actions to exit the vehicle as fast as possible.
In most cases, exiting through the side windows as early as possible is the only chance of escape. They must be opened or broken within the first minute of vehicle impact. Once the water starts to rise up against the side windows, it presses in on them, preventing anyone from opening them. When this happens, the situation has now turned critical and, most likely, fatal.
Mistakes Cost Lives
Most people aren’t prepared to deal with the terrifying reality of being caught in a sinking car.
Stress, inexperience and wrong information cause us to make poor decisions and waste valuable seconds on the wrong actions.
Here are some of the most common mistakes:
- Trying to open the doors
- Trying to kick out the windshield
- Placing cell phone calls for emergency help
- Trying to get the attention of nearby people, hoping for rescue
- Waiting for the passenger compartment to fill with water to to then open the doors
- Doing nothing at all because of panic or simply not knowing what to do
Most of the items on this list are common misconceptions and only serve to let valuable seconds slip away.
Waiting for the Passenger Compartment to Fill to Open the Doors
The truth is that, at some point, the pressures will stabilize and the doors can eventually be opened. But anyone still inside will have drowned well before this is possible. You don’t have to take our word for it – Mythbusters busted this myth here. Near the end of the episode, Adam confirmed that before it was possible to open the door, he had to use the on-board oxygen supply. In other words, he confirmed that had this been a real-life scenario, he would have drowned before the doors could have been opened.
Kicking Out the Windshield
Kicking out the windshield often comes up when discussing vehicle submersion. Let’s set the record straight: you have one minute to exit the vehicle before it is too late. Of all windows, the front windshield is the most difficult to kick; even the back windshield is easier.
If you must resort to kicking windows, your best bet is to kick the side windows. Do not kick the center of the window, but rather the lower corner of the window closest to the door hinges.
Not all windows are breakable and as the industry continues to transition to polycarbonate glass, trying to kick those windows will only prove futile.
That is why AWOS is an essential safety feature: it will automatically lower the windows when a vehicle submersion occurs.
In a Submersion, Every Second Counts
Try holding your breath for 1 minute.
Once the passenger compartment completely fills with water, one last breath is all you have left. That’s why the correct actions must be taken immediately to get out as fast as possible while there’s still a chance.