Broken bridge, car is going to water, one kid on the back.... whats next? need car safety improvement?

here is... i was watching the news when i saw the bridge on missippi falling down
some people saved their lives swiming to the shore but.... if i have a kid on the back and the car is filling fast with water, i know i can jump off the window, but how can i save my boy.... i have to release the seat belts grab him and.... door wont open and if the car is power window? and water damage how on earth i can open the car in that situation

i know is weird and maybe ill never been in that situation but..... how many people die because power window wont open?

does car should have an emergency open window system? or the doors simply fall down when it receive a strong impact?

what will you do to improve cars, or what will you do in that situation?
Additional Details
my friends is not about braking the window... if your grampa is on the car and have YOUR SON inside, your son only have month old i know if you ask him hold the breath he will do it no problem put some real solutions....

WISEMAN

I appreciate your question. What a good topic. I think DMV should include such scenerio in driving test and give us advice what to do. Also there should be built in seatbelt cutter or releaser. I think some cars do have seat belt detacher where they are attached to car sides. Thanks for the questions and all good answers.

mybuttstinks2001

BRAKE THE WINDOW! It is only glass. Windshields are designed to pop out if they are kicked with reasonable force.
If you are worried, what about the seat belt....what it sticks and you can't get it off!
Keep a hammer and a knife in your car.

The Mr. Pine

Standard govt. malaise. Raise hell now but its too late for too many again.

Ian F

Unless you have your window open, and unless you jump out immediately when you hit the water, you can't actually open the doors of the car for a while once you go under water. You have to wait for the car to fill with water so that the pressure equalizes, THEN you open the door and escape.

In the seconds (more than a handful, less than a minute) it will take for the car to fill up, you can extricate your kid. If the kid can't hold his or her breath, they may need CPR when you get to the surface.

If you're really worried about it, though, just carry a hammer in the car, and one of those seat belt cutters.

Heidi

I agree. You need to break the window. I am paranoid about this too. So, I know keep a screwdriver (hold the metal and bang with the handle) just incase I can not pop the window out with a forceful kick, and scissors to cut the seatbelt. In most states, if you get pulled over and they find a knife in your car, you would get in big trouble. So, the answer to this problem is scissors and a screwdriver :) Good Luck and I hope this doesn't happen to anyone in the future!

EDIT: So you are saying your gandpa is "on" the car? Your son is trapped inside? I wouldn't care about breaking the window if my son was inside. It is a window and it can be replaced. Son or window? Hmmmm.....

Scott H

The likelihood of you experiencing something like this is ridiculously small. Why do people worry about things beyond their control? Worry about your safety driving to the store, or to work, not on a bridge.

Btw, your child will be much safer in the back seat of the car rather than on the back of the car.

tommy44432

Listen...car makers can't plan for every contigency. They are not meant to be watercraft and if you go sliding off the road into a pond it's not up the the car manufacturer to come up with a way to save your butt.

Al Mac Wheel

Hopefully we will get better answers as people think through this. Some people can swim through the hole where the window was, but other people will have to get the door open, which aint going to happen until the car fills with water to equalize the pressure.

Before that happens, get people seat belts unfastened, deal with air bag if it got inflated, get people to where they are breathing the last of the air pockets.

So we need to give some thought to what kind of "stuff" we need to have in easy reach of the driver, that will help BREAK THE WINDOW.

The odds of this happening really are quite small, and you can make them smaller. Go to www.highways.org and chekc out links to the federal government "inventory" of safety reports on bridge inspections where they found out that the bridge safety was "deficient" like the one that went down. The data is organized by geography and highway, so you can find out which bridges in your neck of the woods are at greatest risk.

Then you do two things.
1. You stay off them.
2. You scream at your Governor and legislators about getting the funding to get them fixed.

Amanda Y

Well, apparently, you would rather save the car window (while the car is capsized underwater and therefore completely worthless) then break the window.. or just jump out of the car and leave your son inside.. thats just dumb. And huh? Grandpa? I'm really not understanding.

Additional note: Ok, so then I guess we can't help you. You have no other choice at this point but to break the window and get your son, there is nothing else you can do. They have special devices that will assist you in breaking the window and cutting seatbelts. Unless you drive with your child on your lap with the windows rolled down all the time, again... no other choice but to break the window. Its not a matter of being Superman, its a matter of thinking and racing against the clock.

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