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Approximately 400 people die during vehicle submersion annually. This article identified several sources of information suggesting that a person inside the car should breathe trapped air and open the doors when the car fills completely with water. The authors sought to determine the best egress strategy with this experimental study.
On 35 occasions a crane dropped 2 different 1992 Ford Tempos into a body of water with a trained volunteer inside while the events were videotaped. These vehicles did not have automatic windows. Support divers with SCUBA equipment were positioned to help the passengers.
The authors discovered that window opening and egress was easily achieved until the water level reached the bottom of the window-usually taking 2 minutes. Opening the door initially significantly increased sinking time. The article concluded that egress should occur during the initial floating phase and include unfastening the seatbelt, opening the windows, bringing children close to adults, and allowing them to exit first.
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
In 1989 two large-scale multicenter studies on the mortality and morbidity of transurethral resection of the prostate were published [Mebust et al.: