Sunday, August 19, 2007

Puzzled, or Paranoid?

I have other stories to tell, but in the meantime I have something else on my mind – Collapsed bridges, floods, and the uncanny draw that causes a driver to suddenly swerve off a dry, smooth road into a lake, dugout, river, or bog.

That latter bit happens so frequently, it hardly seems purely coincidental. I can’t help but wonder if there is an interplay, or some dynamic of water, tide, and planetary magnetism that we fail to understand that actually leads to these disasters. Something as puzzling as the forces that leash minds and play games with pilots in the Bermuda Triangle.

I am tired of newspapers and broadcasters telling me that someone died in a pond or body of water because they were trapped in a vehicle. I want to know more. I want to know why they were trapped.

Obviously with water pressure, it is well know that opening a door is pretty much impossible. So that leaves only one other method of escape—through the windows. So my question is ‘Do power windows still function when a vehicle is underwater?’ It concerns me.

I can’t help but think, with such extensive flooding, with the compromised quality of so many bridges, with the inability of mankind to understood the curious dynamics of the roadside-wetland-draw, that this is a question that needs to be debated.

Surely if a vehicle plunges into water, roll-down windows would be more dependable…or would they?

4 comments:

Spicy said...

Roberta,
Weird, but I've been questioning that as well. I know once the power windows get wet...they don't work...electrical system dies...yes it makes sense to have the roll-down windows..but just like changing channels on the television set...its too much work. We need a converter to do it..so power windows were invented.
I think I'll stick to roll-down just in case that nearby lake beckons me.
Now I wonder if my seat-belt will jam as well? And I don't carry a sharp knife....maybe I should...but if stopped...I might be accused of carrying a weapon.
Now I'll be up all night! Again!

Joy Des Jardins said...

I have wondered the same thing Roberta. I, for the life of me, can't fathom why people can't escape through the windows. Maybe electric windows don't work submerged in water. With the cost of cars these days....that should be something they should be working on. Thanks for this post....I can't tell you how many times this has crossed my mind.

Roberta S said...

Sorry matty, I didn't mean to create new worries for you that would leave you sleepless.

Roberta S said...

joy, obviously we are a small minority that share these thoughts. The question remains, but maybe, through some stroke of fate, a safety expert will get lost on the net and stumble by at some later day. In the meantime, guess we'll just be left wondering.