You have escaped a sunken car and are rising to the surface. How does the manual say to release the air pressure that has built up in your lungs?
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A.
Blow it out forcefully once your head clears the water.
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B.
Let it out in small breaths through your nose or lips. Correct
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C.
Cough sharply to clear the lungs and reset your breathing.
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D.
Hold your breath until you reach a floating object.
The answer is "Let it out in small breaths through your nose or lips."
The manual is specific: let the pressure out in small breaths through your nose or lips as you rise. Choice A tempts the instinct to blow out hard on surfacing, which is the exact instinct the next sentence of the passage warns you away from.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Blow it out forcefully once your head clears the water.
The manual tells you not to try to blow air out. This answer reaches for the natural instinct to blow out hard, the exact reflex the passage warns you off.
C. Cough sharply to clear the lungs and reset your breathing.
The passage names small breaths through the nose or lips, not coughing. This answer borrows a first-aid image the passage never names.
D. Hold your breath until you reach a floating object.
The manual tells you not to hold your breath tight while surfacing. This answer applies a rule of thumb from free-diving that the manual expressly warns against.
This question tests your knowledge of Emergencies in New York. Source: New York State Driver's Manual, "Driving Emergencies: Going Into Water," p.66..
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