Wait for the Bubble

Along with all the other problems that beset the motorist the world over, drivers in Holland have one added hazard to contend with: the canals. An average of two cars a day slip their brakes, back into or otherwise plunge into the country's famed waterways. Last year, 100 drivers and passengers drowned before help arrived.

The obvious answer would be to erect barriers around the canals, but barriers low enough to avoid spoiling the view would be too low to keep cars out. Last week the Royal Dutch Association for Assistance to Drowning Persons had a new idea: it began giving free lessons in how to escape from a sunken car.

Pupil Derk Kliphuis, 40, a chauffeur for 22 years, put on his swimming trunks and waded into an Amsterdam pool for his lessons in an aluminum mock-up car. "I was frightened when we drove into the water," he said afterward. "The teacher told me to press my head against the roof of the car and look for the bubble of air. 'Don't struggle to open a door,' my teacher said. 'If you do that, you have a fair chance of dying. Press your head against the roof and wait.' "

Kliphuis waited until the water rose to his lower lip. Then he saw that the water had stopped rising, and a small pocket of air remained at the roof of the car. This was the magic moment of the bubble--when the pressure on the inside of the car equaled that on the outside. Kliphuis slowly turned the door handle, which now opened easily, shot through the opening and surfaced. "You have to persuade the pupils to wait for the bubble and not panic," explained Teacher Herman Vos. "That's all there is to it."

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