Imagine you are trapped in a submerged or overturned car. One minute you’re negotiating a curve on the road, the next you make an error, misjudge your situation and find yourself upside down and sinking with your seat belt still holding you in place and doors and windows that refuse to open.

There is little that brings a greater fear to us than the sense of claustrophobia and stark terror of drowning than this scenario. Can auto submersion really happen to us and our loved ones, or is this situation so rare and remote as to not be worth the precaution and preparation necessary to survive such a scary scenario? Here are some of the facts.

Research shows that only a half percent of all auto crashes result in submersion. Here in Maine, there are many places where the roadways are very close to water, with lakes, streams, rivers, ocean and farm ponds that would mean disaster if a car crashed into them. Cars and trucks on the ice at this time of year are another real challenge.

In a submersion accident, wearing your seat belt and staying calm are two key actions that will help you get out of this situation alive. Seat belts can help you reduce impact injuries and keep you conscious and able to escape.

Quickly assess your situation. If you are lucky, you have not been injured and your car is floating but sinking slowly. Unfasten your seat belt, roll down your window and escape. Next, remove yourself from the water as quickly as possible to avoid hypothermia.

On the other hand, if you are unlucky, your car is sinking like a stone and your seat belt is jammed and won’t release. Here you will need to let the pressure of the water equalize as the vehicle sinks before the door will open. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it is exactly the right thing to do. Remember that in this new “electric everything” age, your automobile seat belts and windows may fail to work at all.

There are wonderful little safety devices called by a variety of names such as window punch and auto emergency tool. The best of these devices will perform two essential tasks. First, they have a sharp metal point that will allow you to break your side window. and secondly, they have a cutter or actual knife blade with a blunted point that allows you to cut your seat belt off without cutting yourself. These devices should be in every vehicle and located within easy reach of the driver, even after the violence of an accident.

Your local emergency response staff should be able to inform you about these lifesavers that often cost far less than $10. Online services such as eBay sell these items. With the window punch (some are spring loaded), the side window will break into thousands of pieces, allowing for your escape. Please note these window punches will not work on the windshield, which has a plastic membrane sandwiched between two layers of glass and will only come out as one piece. Trying to exit through the windshield is a bad strategy.

In a submersion accident, seconds count. Planning ahead is key. Remember the military adage, “It is better to have and not need than to need and not have.” This is very true of the window punch, which all Maine drivers should soon adopt as ride-along insurance.

You and your loved ones may not survive a dreaded submersion accident somewhere in the future, even with these magical safety tools onboard, but everyone certainly deserves at least a fighting chance with improved odds and training.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast COMBAT-Maine Center for the Public Interest, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit organization. For help, write: Consumer Forum, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402-1329.