Sinking Car- I am ready.

Did you hear about the three college athletes who drowned this week when their car went into a pond at night? You can find the story on CNN. I've been thinking about those beautiful ladies all day. I am very sorry for their families. That is horrible.

We must learn from the horrible- to ensure the horrible doesn't happen again.

I want you to go sit in your parked car for five minutes and think about this situation: how would you escape from a sinking car? Don't ignore the question. Think. If ever you find yourself inside a sinking car YOU WILL SURVIVE if you've thought about your exit strategy. It must be a shocking situation to suddenly find your car in water, but dwelling on this situation could save your life. Use Google to learn how experts say you need to successfully escape from a sinking car. Do it. (And if you can't think about how you would escape from a sinking car while your car is parked on your concrete driveway, then how do you think you'll react if by accident your car actually goes into water?!)

Here's what I've learned:

The key is to remain calm. Control your panic. Use your adrenaline rush to your advantage- remind yourself that you know what to do because you've thought about this before the horrible moment when your car is in water.

First, don't call for help your cell phone. Help doesn't have time to come. Second, don't think your car will float like in cartoons. It won't. Now here's what you need to do: Unbuckle your seat belt, instruct other adults to unbuckle their seat beats, unbuckle your children and put them in the front seat with you, roll down your window and swim your way out of the window. What if you can't fit out of the widow? No worries, push your children out the window and tell them to swim to the surface. Remain calm and breath the air bubble while you wait for the pressure to equalize- a.k.a. water fills the inside of your car. As soon as the car is full of water and the pressure is equalized, then you can open the door and swim to the surface. Easy.

Apparently car makers are smart, because it appears that electric windows will work up to 20 minutes in water- so you don't have to worry about them not rolling down- however as soon as you do roll down the window water will rush into the car- that has to be dramatic- but just remember that as the water rushes in you can rush out.

Of course, make sure you and all your family members know how to swim ASAP. Also we need to come to terms with the fact that your car won't be sinking in a heated saltwater pool- the water could be muddy, cloudy, and chilly. No worries you can swim in the muck and survive.

The key to any survival is being prepared. You have to mentally be prepared to handle yourself in a life and death situation. So spend ten minutes thinking about how you would survive. And you will survive.