Resident: 'Desire To Live' Will Help You Survive Crash in Body of Water

Dear editor,

After reading the article about the woman who crashed into a pond passed away, I wanted to share some thoughts with your readers. First, I would like to extend my condolences to the family; to lose someone at such a young age is a tragic loss.

May God grant you peace in your lives. I am a retired U.S. Coast Guard officer; in my 20 years in the Coast Guard I was involved in many rescues. Most had happy and successful endings, some did not. The one thing that I saw that made the difference was a person’s will to live. In any survival situation, you must believe in your ability to survive.

Your desire to live is the one thing that can make you overcome obstacles that you would have never thought possible. I cannot over-emphasize this enough. You have to tell yourself, ‘I can make it! I’ll get out of this.’

After reading the article I got to thinking of my own two daughters, both are out and on their own and going about their daily lives. Would my daughters have escaped? Would they have lived? In a crash into a body of water, you must take immediate action to get yourself out of the vehicle.

First, wait until the vehicle has come to a complete stop and is not moving. (This works only if the water is shallow, if you continue to sink then start the windows down and egress.) Roll down the windows; you cannot open the door, the water pressure against the door will prevent you from opening the door. Electric windows will work for a few minutes underwater. Undo your seat belt and hold on to a reference point. One of the best that I can think of is the grip handle that is above the passenger window or the steering wheel for the driver. Giving yourself a reference point will keep where you are in the car in your mind, because by now you will be completely submerged and not likely to be able to see outside.

Move your other hand and find the open window & swim out. If there are infants or small children in the car, then the reference point becomes even more important as now you will have to use your reference point to move about the car to release their seat belts and get them out of the car. Remember there may be a pocket of air at the top of the head-liner in the car to get a couple of extra breaths. Do not try to save your purse, your billfold, your whatever; get out.

Again my condolences to the family that lost the young woman, you have been in my prayers.

Robert I. Griffin
LCDR USCG (ret)
Canton