I think I heard that you shouldn't open the car anyway, until it's full of water... Might be completely wrong, of course, and I'm not very inclined to test it
Quote from: bmot on March 02, 2014, 02:18:46 PMI think I heard that you shouldn't open the car anyway, until it's full of water... Might be completely wrong, of course, and I'm not very inclined to test it Well if I land in the water and have a resqme on me, I'm not waiting. You're thinking of a different thing here, the advice to wait till the car fills with water is for opening the doors by hand, as it will be easier to do so then. While the pressure of the water is against the door from the outside you wouldn't be able to open the door. That's where these rescue hammers came in to get you out faster. I live between two rivers and people end up in them every now and then and drown for the very reason. There was again a case of it about two weeks ago, a guy skidded off the wet road, hit the river and drowned. No one saw it, but people noticed the skid marks on the ground and dragged the river. I have a resqme on my gear stick and I bought one for my father too. Just in case.
One caveat I have to wonder about though- they talked briefly about shattering the window if your car is underwater and how the edges of the glass aren't sharp. I have always wondered about that myself- while tempered glass chunks aren't as sharp as regular glass chunks, when under water, the sudden shattering of the window is likely to cause all of that broken glass to shoot inward as the water comes in. As windows are often at face level is that really what you want? While I imagine cuts on your face and the possible loss of eyes is preferable to a slow, cold drowning death in a car I have to wonder if there couldn't be a better way of doing this entirely.Def
And not near any water? Def
I have a resqme on my keys and put one in parents' car as well. The thing that somewhat concerns me is it relies on spring tension and a plastic body to contain it, so essentially you have a weak mechanical device that's under high stress, which you don't know if it's a dud and can't test it. Still it's pretty much the only keychain sized option, a lifehammer would be more reliable but can't put that in pocket.
Quote from: jzmtl on March 08, 2014, 07:31:28 AMI have a resqme on my keys and put one in parents' car as well. The thing that somewhat concerns me is it relies on spring tension and a plastic body to contain it, so essentially you have a weak mechanical device that's under high stress, which you don't know if it's a dud and can't test it. Still it's pretty much the only keychain sized option, a lifehammer would be more reliable but can't put that in pocket.You can ABSOLUTELY test it. I recommend doing it against a piece of scrap lumber. I believe Grant will back me up on NOT doing it on your thumb. It will 'fire' every time you press it down. It's not a one-use thing. If you press it down on the wood, and it makes the 'thunk' sound, and leaves a dent in the wood, then it's working.
I was all set for glass flying everywhere, but there was nothing. I was on a nice, flat bit of concrete with nothing around me for a few meters covered from head to foot in stuff to repel flying glass but there we go. Better that way than ending up with a large chunk poking out of my eye