Your car has just driven into deep water. What does the manual tell you to do?
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A.
Push the driver's door open and swim out.
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B.
Release your seat belt and escape through a window. Correct
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C.
Wait until the cabin fills with water, then open the door.
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D.
Climb into the trunk through the rear seat.
The answer is "Release your seat belt and escape through a window."
The manual says to release your seat belt and escape through a window, because opening a door lets water rush in and the car can turn over on top of you. Choice C tempts readers who recall the old survival tip about waiting for pressure to equalize before opening a door; the manual does not endorse it and warns against opening a door at all.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Push the driver's door open and swim out.
Opening a door lets water rush in and can flip the car on top of you. This answer falls back on the instinct to leave through the same door used to enter.
C. Wait until the cabin fills with water, then open the door.
The manual gives no such wait-and-fill instruction; it tells you to leave through a window. This answer repeats the old pressure-equalizing survival tip that the manual does not sanction.
D. Climb into the trunk through the rear seat.
The trunk is not mentioned as an escape route. This answer confuses the trunk with the back-seat air pocket, which the manual describes only for a car that has already sunk.
This question tests your knowledge of Crash Procedures in New York. Source: New York State Driver's Manual, "Driving Emergencies: Going Into Water," p.66..
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