Expert Says Don’t Dial 911 From Submerged Vehicle

A university professor who has researched submerged vehicle accidents advises motorists who find themselves underwater, “If you touch your cell phone, you’re doing to die.” Dr. Gordon Giesbrecht told the Naples Daily News (Fla.) that dialing 911 from a submerged car takes precious time that should be used to immediately escape the vehicle. The newspaper noted that Florida leads the country in the number of submerged vehicle deaths, with 536 over a 10-year period, followed by California (334) and Texas (204). Pre-incident advice given to the public on handling these incident is contradictory and incorrect advice, the newspaper found, and dispatchers often spend valuable time trying to obtain the caller’s location—which they frequently cannot describe and the cellular systems cannot provide. The newspaper reporter also talked to Dr. Jeff Clawson, co-founder of the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch, who said there is an Academy protocol for handling submerged vehicles. Read the full story here.