Please allow me this opportunity to deliver a quick public safety message.  Before I get to my primary message,  allow me to reiterate the often stated message in regard to flood waters – "Turn around, don’t drown."  Do not attempt to walk or drive through flood waters – the power of the current can be deceiving.

Moving on – the information below reflects what is known from the research about your best chance for survival if you are in a vehicle that goes into a body of water.  Three college students from Dickinson lost their lives in November when their vehicle went into a pond because they didn’t know what to do.   Their deaths remind us how important it is to know what to do in the few crucial minutes you will have in such an incident (and minutes – in the plural – may be more than you get – plan for a minute to be safe).  The Dickinson students frantically called for help on cell phones.  If they would have known the below information they might have survived that tragic accident.

Remember four steps to survive such an incident: SEATBELTS – CHILDREN – WINDOW – OUT

First, take off your seatbelt.

Second, attend to children‘s seatbelts.

Third, get your window rolled down.

Fourth, get out.

As I stated, research has been done on this and other commonly utilized approaches to escape vehicles in the water.  This approach offers the highest success rate – about 50%.  Give yourself and your family a chance to survive in such an event – memorize these four steps – SEATBELTS – CHILDREN – WINDOW – OUT.  They say a person needs to hear something multiple times to retain it, so keep repeating this to yourself – SEATBELTS – CHILDREN – WINDOW – OUT.  You may not need it today, tomorrow or next year, but in the event you do I want you to remember it.  Say it with me…SEATBELTS – CHILDREN – WINDOW – OUT.

Stay safe.

Day two hundred and fifty-two of the new forty – obla di obla da

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