MaxManning
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- Nov 18, 2015
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It's not as easy to get out of a car in water as you might think, and nothing to do with whether the person is a good swimmer or not. It's reckoned you have maybe a minute and during that time the best case scenario is that you instantly have your wits about you, the window is rolled down and you weren't wearing a seatbelt but didn't go through the windscreen.
Now imagine you're shocked/stunned from the impact (assuming conscious); the window is rolled up; your seatbelt is done up. The car, if front-engined, is going to be tipping nose-first down into the water. You have to get your head together, get the window down (assuming the electrics work or it's manual), get out of your seatbelt, pull yourself out through the window. Some say you have to wait for the car to sink so the pressure equalises and you can open the door, but more recently I've seen that suggested as a last resort - you'd have to hold your breath for quite a while and that may not be easy if you're shocked or panicking.
And that's all assuming the car goes in right side up...
http://www.wikihow.com/Escape-from-a-Sinking-Car
I think that obviously there is alot that can go wrong, even if you know exactly what to do. For instance, the minute you inhale water, you now have a situation where your body is panicking impulsively. It's not the same as when you dive into water deliberately and know to hold your breath.
Could her swimming skills improve her chances? surely. But I can certainly see how one could say the odds are stacked against her heavily from the word go, especially if in an accident situation where she tumbled down a slope. She might not even be conscious at that point, if she hit her head.