Surviving an Underwater Automobile Accident

Your car suddenly plunging into water may not be something you’ve ever devoted much thought to, much less devised an emergency plan for. Yet, every year, an estimated 11,000 people accidentally plunge their cars into bodies of water.

My husband, my 3-year-old son, and I were taking a late evening drive in the country on a dirt road that we knew well. Several days before we’d decided to take our drive, there had been heavy rains. The creek on this county road was actually a run off creek for a large lake. Flooding and debris hitting the bridge had caused it to collapse. Because this wasn’t a very often-traveled road, no one had noticed the bridge was gone, so no warning signs had been placed on the road. Because of the lay of the land, there was a slight incline leading toward the bridge. In the dark, my husband was unable to see that the bridge was gone until he topped the little incline. The floodwaters from the lake had risen almost level with the incline. When my husband reached the top of this little incline, his headlights had simply reflected across the water, giving the illusion of there still being a road there. Our car had hydroplaned some 14 feet forward before it began to sink. This distance placed us directly above the deepest part, or the channel, of the creek below. Our car finally came to rest in a little over 16 feet of water.