This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. For an explanation of our Advertising Disclosure, visit this page.
My wife sent me a video she came across while doom scrolling on Instagram. In her middle-of-the-night email to me, she wrote, “Should we show the kids?” When I read it, I replied, let’s discuss. RELATED: A Former Car Rental Executive Shares Her Best Tips
The video (embedded below) was created by a Dutch father with the caption, “Unfortunately children are taken often enough for it to be a reason to teach basic escape tactics. So why not teach them the basics- like YES there is a button in most trunks made after 2000. Children are much smarter than we give them credit for. Teach them, and they may surprise you. In addition, my children sometimes watch us film safety videos and ask to try it out. Unfortunately that also means my son now picks the lock on the bathroom all the time.”
View this post on Instagram
As you can see in the video, he shows the kids which button to press before putting them in. Interestingly, I came across another similar video about two weeks ago. That video (embedded below), has no audio. It’s just a lady, seemingly trapped in the back seat of a car, trying to escape. She puts the back seats down, then crawls to the trunk and flips the latch.
View this post on Instagram
I did some research and came across a story from Jeff Rossen on The Today Show. He ran an experiment asking volunteers if they were trapped in a trunk, would they know where to find the safety latch and how to escape? Most did not know where the safety latch was located.
The trunk latch “has been required by law in all new passenger cars since 2001.” And the trick, which Rossen revealed, was knowing that the latch glows in the dark.
Now, let’s say you have been kidnapped and your kidnapper uses zip ties on your hands. What then? Retired Army Special Forces officer Mykel Hawke taught Rossen and several volunteers a maneuver for snapping a zip tie right off.
Watch all of those life-saving tips here:
Not everyone who gets stuck in a car has been kidnapped. There are a lot of reasons why people can get trapped in a car, including parents forgetting their kids. That’s why it’s important for kids (and everyone) to learn this easy escape method. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “about 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car. That’s about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car.”
I also store a window breaker and seatbelt cutter two-in-one tool in each of the front seat doors of my car so that my wife or I can break the windows if, God forbid, we ever get trapped inside our vehicle or if our car is submerged in water.
KEEP READING
• How to Save Money With a Secret Third Carry-On
• How to Use Your Wireless Headphones to Watch In-Flight Movies
• 10 Airport Security Hacks Every Traveler Should Know
• How to Get the Best Coach Seat on the Plane
• The Sleep Hack Every Traveler Needs to Know
• Never Get Your Valuables Stolen on the Beach
Want more travel news, tips and deals? Sign up to Johnny Jet’s free newsletter and check out these popular posts: The Travel Gadget Flight Attendants Never Leave Home Without and 12 Ways to Save Money on Baggage Fees. Follow Johnny Jet on MSN, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube for all of my travel posts.
Thank you for sharing this life saving information.