Their minivan was discovered on a Sunday morning. A scant 12 hours before they were an active, vibrant family that loved life – and lived it to its fullest. Now they’re dead, the victims not of a drunk or drugged driver, but of a vehicle submersion accident.
Tasha Elliott, the principal of an elementary school, her husband, Kevin, along with their two children, 11 year-old Wyatt and 7 year-old Madison, didn’t die as a result of injuries sustained in a devastating high speed car crash, but because they couldn’t get out of their vehicle when it submerged in a pond.
In the U.S., we have just about every conceivable vehicle safety innovation at our disposal, from curtain side air bags to collision avoidance systems – and more. While these life-saving devices have added thousands of dollars to the price of a new vehicle, they have been credited with saving tens of thousands of lives. Unfortunately, one safety device that potentially could have saved the lives of the Elliott’s and the estimated 300 to 500 just like them who die every year in vehicle submersion accidents, isn’t required equipment on any vehicle. As a matter of fact, it’s not even available to the general public.
A number of years ago a company called Egression Technologies invented a simple, cost-effective device that could help people to escape from a submerged vehicle, when each passing second dramatically reduces one’s chance of survival. The device, called the Escape Tip, is a modified male end of a seatbelt, sometimes referred to as a latch plate, that can cause breakage of a vehicle’s side window glass every time it’s correctly used for that purpose. At this point, neither the auto industry nor government safety regulators seem interested in utilizing it – but they may not be aware of the magnitude of this problem. This tool isn’t rocket science. It’s a small tungsten carbide-tipped device that costs almost nothing to produce.
When a vehicle submerges, it begins taking on water within just a few seconds. The occupants don’t have time to think, plan exit strategies, or attempt to locate a device that could enable them to escape. While there are a number of products on the market (think LifeHammer and similar products) that can do the job, the Escape Tip is a better overall solution for a variety of reasons:
• It forces removal of the seatbelt
• It’s located near every window
• It simplifies the escape process
• It has a very low production cost
• It puts a means of escape into the hands of all vehicle occupants
The established protocol for escaping a submerged vehicle is POGO (Pop Open door Get Out). If the vehicle is rapidly taking on water, the doors may be impossible to open. At the same time, if a passenger manages to get the door open, the sudden rush of incoming water could doom all of the other occupants to a watery grave. This device – or one like it – would at least give all vehicle occupants an equal chance of escape. In addition, in order to get out of the vehicle, all occupants must remove their seat belts anyway. The simple act of removing the seatbelt would put a means of breaking the window into the hands of all occupants. To me, this makes good sense.
While no system is infallible, this is a common sense approach that government and the auto industry should consider. We rely upon our government to mandate safety rules when industry fails to act. All vehicles are now equipped with an inside trunk release in the event that someone is inadvertently locked in the trunk. It didn’t happen very often, but when it did it usually resulted in death.
While I’m angry that nothing has been done – at this point – to stem the tide of vehicle submersion deaths, I realize that anger without action is a futile waste of energy. To be fair to the auto industry, they have been innovative in many areas when it comes to our safety, many times even taking the initiative by developing lifesaving technologies.
Industry has tried to address this issue; now I’m calling on automobile manufacturers to step up to the plate and put some of the greatest engineering minds in the world to work in seeking a viable, cost-effective solution to this problem.
If someone can develop a solution that will solve this problem, I’m all for it. Does it have to specifically be the Escape Tip? Not necessarily. If someone else has a better idea that addresses all of the escape and safety concerns I’ve identified, I’m all for it. Until then, I think it’s the best game in town, but I’m open to any and all solutions.
It’s conceivable that the auto industry isn’t aware of the magnitude of this problem. If it’s not, we can all do our part by bringing it to their attention. A problem cannot be solved until it’s been identified. If we collectively begin lobbying for a commonsense device like this by calling, writing, or emailing all vehicle manufacturers, perhaps the automobile industry will answer the call by giving us what we want. Many times the laws of supply and demand alone are enough to solve problems.
Government legislation isn’t always the best, most expedient solution to a problem and the tragic drowning deaths of motorists should be no different. If, however, the auto industry fails to act, I think government has every right to respond legislatively. The wheels of government can turn very slowly – and sometimes with good reason. In this case, however, I think government should take an active role in addressing this very real problem.
Hearings to explore the best way of addressing this problem would be a good start. Moreover, I think legislation could ultimately be an excellent strategy to reverse this problem. Maybe the time has come for the Tasha Elliott Vehicle Escape Act. If this is what it takes to dramatically reduce the number of people who meet such a tragic end, I’m all for it. Regardless of the ultimate solution, I think special effort should be made to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum and that the technology be mandatory – and identical across all product lines – as in the case of the seatbelt. In addition, I think simplicity should be at the heart of any solution implemented.
The problem of vehicle submersion deaths may not seem like a problem worthy of government intervention, because only 300 to 500 people per year die in this fashion. However, when you break down the numbers, one person every 30 hours drowns inside a submerged motor vehicle. Since 1960, about 20,000 people have perished.
Would the implementation of a new federal regulation or Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard do much to save lives – and if so, how many would be saved? That’s unclear; what is clear, however, is that giving victims a simple tool with easy to remember instructions would be a dramatic improvement over the system currently in place. It would give victims like Tasha Elliott and her family a fighting chance.
She wasn’t just an anonymous face in a crowd of 20,000 drowning victims. She was also the beloved principal of an elementary school in west-central Illinois. Her death left a community stunned and hundreds of children confused about how a minor accident could forever, indelibly mar their earliest childhood memories.
Instead of collectively shrugging our shoulders, shaking our heads and doing nothing, we can all work together today to ensure that yesterday’s victims did not die in vain. There’s no better way I can think of that we can honor their memories than by preventing senseless tragedies like these from happening again tomorrow.
Be safe,
Kenneth Speegle
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