SEAL Survival Guide (23 page)

There are a number of seat belt designs, but all should be strapped low around your hips. Make sure the shoulder strap crosses over your chest diagonally and that it is as snug as you can have it while maintaining maneuverability.

Other Safety Features and Precautions

I absolutely love classic cars, but I now understand why traffic fatalities are at an all-time low. Many of these older cars had only lap belts, seats without head support, hard steering wheels with protruding steering columns, narrow pedals, and no air bags.

Air bag technology was invented to protect astronauts when early spacecraft were designed to crash-land back to Earth. The first car air bag was invented in 1968 and installed in some government vehicles in 1973. Air bags became a standard-issue feature in cars in 1990, but not until 1999 were both cars and light trucks required to install both driver and passenger-side air bags. An air bag senses impact and sudden deceleration and inflates at a speed of 200 mph, as fast as a shell fired from a sawed-off shotgun. This millisecond in which an air bag is deployed has decreased the risk of dying during a front-end collision by 30 percent. Do not disable your air bag, and have its functionality checked periodically.

Air Bag Precautions

The early-model air bags were so strong that some actually caused decapitation if they malfunctioned. They are still powerful but are far more sensor-regulated. However, a small child in the passenger seat should be placed so that his or her seat is as far back as it can be from the dashboard. Because accidents aren’t planned and an air bag is deployed on impact, I recommend driving with your hands at the
four o’clock and eight o’clock positions
on the steering wheel, rather than the standard two and ten. This will provide a clear path for the bag to release without sending your arms and hands into your face. Do not place any object on top of the air bag enclosure, or you may end up eating it. Keep your head back against the headrest but loosen your shoulders.

Newton’s Law

An object in motion will stay in motion. This is why the addition of the chest belt and headrest have been so successful in reducing injuries and fatalities. The belt keeps your entire body firmly in the seat, while a properly adjusted headrest (middle of the headrest even with the middle of the back of your head) will eliminate whiplash. When
you get in an accident and stop abruptly, things like your head, books, cell phone, golf clubs, and such don’t realize this and keep moving. Anything loose lying about the car can become a deadly projectile and cause injury. For example, don’t keep a baseball bat in the area of the back window, or it will turn into a club upon impact and possibly kill you. Stow all stuff under the seat, or in the trunk, or in wheel-well areas.

Vehicle Maintenance

The vehicle you get into every day is one important piece of “gear.” It’s actually amazing the abuse most vehicles go through and yet keep running despite our lack of regular maintenance. Make a checklist of items that need to be maintained and serviced on your vehicle, and follow it. You can greatly decrease the chances of an auto accident by simply maintaining your vehicle. Pay particular attention to the condition of your brakes and tires. The extra thousand miles you are trying to get out of your tires could mean the difference between avoiding an accident and being the cause of it.

Common Sense Is Rarely Common

You’ve heard the advice about driving defensively, but it’s no mere cliché. In some foreign countries there seem to be no traffic laws. People drive at crazy speeds, on the wrong side of the road, and think of traffic signs as only suggestions. Not to mention after spending the majority of your life driving on the right side of the road, it takes a lot of focus to tell your brain and muscles to drive and stay on the left side in countries where this is required. The death rates from car accidents in these countries are astronomically higher than in the United States. In America, many traffic signs were installed only after fatalities occurred at that site, so their presence is a warning to you to obey
the rules. If it’s raining, you don’t need to go 60 mph just because the speed limit allows it. Adjust to environmental conditions—you don’t want to be among this year’s car causalities or become permanently handicapped due to your own carelessness.

Focus

The car is a powerful machine that can injure or kill. I couldn’t imagine texting or talking on my cell phone while I was cleaning my rifle, but nowadays people eat while driving, shave, put on their makeup—and even watch TV. In this wonderful age of electronics, there is a spike of accidents resulting from multitasking while driving, attributable primarily to distractions. Texting and e-mailing while you should be keeping your focus on the road are the latest causes of fatal car crashes.

The Accident: Avoid and Minimize

Again, driving is something that requires a high degree of situational awareness. Observe the road, looking for things that could end up causing an accident. Drive defensively from the moment you start your engine until you turn it off (see “Road Rage: Defensive and Evasive Driving,”
page 266
). As an avid motorcyclist, I am constantly trying to anticipate what the drivers around me will do next. Keep your head on a swivel. Watch for cars ahead, and look for pedestrians, trying to anticipate their next move. It’s recommended to keep two car lengths behind the vehicle ahead of you, which will provide enough time to brake and react to the unexpected. If you notice a distracted driver, stay extra clear. Also, many of the people driving rented moving trucks are inexperienced in handling these oversized vehicles and should be given a wide berth. If you see a car that has just parked, be prepared for the driver to fling open the door without looking. Be particularly watchful of kids playing on the sidewalk, for if they start to chase a ball, chances are they will not check for oncoming traffic.

If all efforts have failed and a crash is imminent, maintain your composure. You must try to respond with decisive maneuvers, but you must do so as smoothly as possible.

1. Brace your hands on the wheel in the four o’clock and eight o’clock positions to allow the air bag to deploy without being obstructed by your hands and arms. Put your head back against the headrest and relax your body.

2. Try to slow your vehicle as much as possible, especially if you are veering toward a tree or a concrete barrier.

• Braking: There are certain techniques to braking that are proven to keep maximum control. Primarily, if you slam the brakes, you will lose control. Antilock brakes have an antilock brake system (ABS) computer chip that regulates brake fluid and prevents the brakes from freezing up if pressed firmly. If your car lacks antilock brakes, then pumping the brake pedal will prevent lockup and allow you to retain control. Slammed brakes cause your car to skid, leaving you to lose control and making the result of the accident far more likely to be even less favorable.