Date: 14 Dec 2001 06:27:50 GMT From: davehinznopsamcop.net Subject: Re: EMT's - question for you
Just Bob <uctraingnopsamanet.com> pressed random keys until the following was produced: > I know there are a couple of EMT's posting here regularly. I have a > question for you that came up in another group. OK, shoot! > Some folks claim that locking your doors while driving is a bad idea > and keep paramedics from pulling you out quickly in an accident > situation. Nope. We have a tool that will get us around the door lock, is hand-held, very portable, and gets us in in about a second. You'll pardon me for not posting specifics, I hope. > My own theory is that even when wearing a seat belt, you > want your doors locked so that they don't pop open in an accident > and you get injured that way. Yup. You're safer if the car cabin stays intact. If the door is flopping around, or if you're bouncing around within the car, then the systems in place to protect you won't help, because you're either hanging out the window, or in the wrong place for the airbags, crumple zones, etc to help. I can't cite any studies, just personal experience, and I haven't taken a survey of who has, and has not, locked their doors when we come to extricate them, - but - a locked door certainly has a better chance of staying shut, and that's a good thing. The door being locked, won't slow us down *at all*. Look at it this way - if the car is wrecked badly enough that a locked door is jammed and we have to get out the jaws, it'll also be jammed if that door were unlocked as well. > Lots of theories, lot of ideas... what does your practical experience > as an EMT tell you ? I'm interested to see the other responses you get. Perhaps the group misc.emergency.services would be a more fertile ground for this question, as well. > Bob Dave Hinz Firefighter/EMT (Wisconsin)
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
