Window breaking emergency tool to carry in your car.

Random news to use - modern car windows do not break easily AT ALL. Personal story and a rescue diver's story.

This is not my usual topic but I wander a lot of territory. An infomercial on Youtube caught my attention and I ended up clicking through to the invention made by an underwater rescuer who was heart-broken at the lost of a mother and her two children. She was alive and trying to use an emergency hammer to crack the car windows after a medical emergency had caused her to lose control and crash into a lake.

The rescue diver found her alive and trying to break free but he was also unable to break the car windows in time to save the family. The father was devastated which added to the diver’s heart break over not being able to rescue the man’s family. He went on to invent a spring-loaded device that can break the side windows or back windshield but likely will only crack the stronger front windshield. Use is near a corner of a side window or the back window rather than right in the center. The goal is to cause a fracture that will ripple through more of the glass.

The device reminds me of the spring loaded “bullet” guns that are used for merciful killing of a horse that got seriously wounded or is going berserk for some reason. Using a real gun would possible lead to a stray bullet harming someone or something else in the area of the mercy killing. (Dick Francis mystery novel “Bolt”)

I was trained and worked for a couple summers as a Lifeguard and Water Safety Instructor. Around that time I was also learning how to drive and must admit to some bad dream/visualization of a car crash that was underwater leading to a need for an underwater rescue.

When modern cars took away the old-fashioned crank handles for opening and closing the windows, I truly felt a little trapped and at risk. I missed crank handles. It is disturbing to find out that the little emergency hammers are worthless on modern car windows. I can believe it though - due to a dumb thing I did in my past.

I had locked my car keys in my brand new car. It was late at night and I wasn’t thinking that well - PANIC - I got a hammer, a full size carpenter hammer, and I hammered quite hard on my car window, in hopes of breaking it to get my keys which I could see in there. The hammer did nothing to the window but my arm hurt a little. My arm bounced back with a vigorous rebound. I may have pounded a couple times before coming to my senses.

With slightly more thought, I just called AAA and got lockout car service. Frequently I am glad to have made it as far in life as I have.

What was I thinking?

I wasn’t thinking. I was panicking and being reactive - doing the first thing that came to my mind instead of pausing to consider a few ideas and their pros and cons.

Here’s the link: This Firefighter-Approved Tool Saves Lives: Don’t Risk Your Safety, (resquestick.com), if you want to buy your own emergency car ‘bolt’ gun for breaking the window when caught underwater, or if the car bursts on fire and the electronics shut off along with the ability to open the windows. The idea is to just buy a Resquestick to have in your car/s and leave it in the car in case of emergency. It looks like it comes with a magnet type carrier so it can just be mounted on or near the dashboard somewhere. AND if you are one of the next 3000 buyers (or so) you may get it at a half off discounted price….(it was an infomercial). *I am unaffiliated - just concerned about being trapped in a broken or underwater car.

Resquestick.com

A sea turtle under the deep blue sea. Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash

Disclaimer: This information is being provided for educational purposes and is not intended to provide individual health care guidance.