Posted on 08/03/2007 9:11:41 AM PDT by Daffynition
Plunging 60 feet off a bridge in a car sounds like a sure death sentence, but survival experts say people can and do walk away from such a calamity, for a simple reason: They were wearing their seat belts.
"The people who got out without a scratch absolutely had their seat belts on," says Brian Brawdy, survival expert and a former New York City police officer. "If you're knocked unconscious because you weren't wearing your seat belt, you won't be swimming to the surface."
Kimberly Brown, who survived the bridge collapse, told "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts that had she not been wearing her seat belt, she was certain she would have gone through her car's windshield.
With four confirmed fatalities, Minneapolis authorities say they expect the death toll to rise as vehicles' that fell more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River are recovered.
Chances of surviving for those still submerged in the river now almost 24 hours later are remote, experts say. The combination of the impact and the speed at which cars sink give passengers mere minutes to avoid suffocation.
"[Drivers] would have three to five minutes, depending on how much of the water is rushing in and then given the size of the car," says Brawdy.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Oh sure, like they really surveyed everyone on the bridge to see if they were wearing their seatbelts or not. How many kids on the bus were wearing seatbelts? None, since school buses don’t have seatbelts. I’m not saying seatbelts are a safety device, but lets have some honest reporting.
So, Brian “Jumps to Conclusions to Support My Own Pre-Determined Bias” Brawdy - can we pretty much assume that when they finally get through the murky water and start pulling bodies out of cars, that none of them will be wearing seatbelts?
Good thing school buses are exempt from the seat belt requirements.
Wait until they get to the cars underwater. Most bodies they find will stillbe belted in. I've studied survival in such situatins, and most people panic and cannot escape. The die with their seat belts on, assuming they survive the impact. In any case, it's a sucky situation.
“Good thing school buses are exempt from the seat belt requirements.”
Good thing that school bus never actually hit the water or ya’ll would be singing a different tune. It’s hard enough for panicked adults to release a seat belt, can you imagine a busload of panicked children?
Suh-weet! Who needs a steenkin’ bridge, anyway! :-)
Good thing the "experts" cleared that one up for us. Do journalists think that we are so dumb that we have to have the most obvious things spelled out for us? I mean does any person in the world expect that somebody just might pop out of their submerged van after 24 hours having breathed out of empty beer cans or something?
Me too. I always figure that in the event I go in the water I at least want to improve my chances of being conscious so that then I can then deal with panicking or not. I also have a seat-belt knife in my center console and a steel center-punch in a sheath clipped to the side of my seat.
...and using a hands-free headset for your cell phone
/ sarcasm
Good idea. I keep meaning to get one of those combination cutter/hammer devices for my evil SUV.
Well...duh. What’s the point of even doing such a story? It’s 2007...are there actually still people who don’t wear seatbelts?
I also had to train in the “dunker” (a cage that is supposed to simulate a helicopter landing in water). The instructor knew we carried knives and selt-belt cutters so he reminded us to only use them as a last resort if the seat-belt wouldn’t release. I guess people get in the mindset that they have to use their tools even if the usual method would still work and is much quicker.
A fall of sixty feet is like a head-on collision at 50 mph. I suspect airbags helped, too.
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