Passenger Averts Disaster: What You Should Do In Emergencies

In September 2017 the BBC news reported that a passenger in the Austrian Alps averted imminent danger, a bus headed for a cliff edge when the driver lost consciousness. The quick thinking and quick acting passenger, luckily seated nearby, was able to grab and apply the brake.
What could, or should, you do in an emergency?

I recall reading about a rail crash in America. One of the people who escaped with all their family said he had read the instructions on boarding and knew to locate the emergency escape window.

Welsh train sign I took to read and learn Welsh. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

When getting into any vehicle note where the emergency windows are. Point them out to your family or fellow passengers. You will see multiple language notices in trains. Sometimes the directions are on the other side of the vehicle, too far away to read, and you would not be able to read them if the lights went out. I take a photo of the emergency directions on my phone and note the exits.

I try to sit near an exit. I remind myself how the exit operates so I can react quickly.

If you are able-bodied and a passenger, chat to the driver and find out how to stop the vehicle in an emergency and operate the warning lights and, if necessary, escape from a window.

The canny traveler knows how to avoid dangerous situations as well as how to get out of danger.
With children you could make a spoken or written game of I-spy including, where's the emergency exit?

Here's a checklist for you?
1 Do I know how to contact emergency in this building or vehicle?
2 Do I know the escape route?

3 If it's free seating, am I sitting near the exit?
4 Do I know the best place of shelter from attackers or falling objects?

5 Are my valuables on me so I have a credit card and spectacles and keys in my pocket if I have to run or wake up in an ambulance or hospital?
6 Do I and all my family and colleagues know how to swim?

7 Does everybody where I live or work have first aid training?
8 If not, how do I organise training in first aid.

9 Do I know how to drive or operate the car or vehicle in which I am travelling?
10 Remember the American saying, Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

PS In your pocket carry a prayer of gratitude or the words of your favourite song.
Have something to say in the worst case scenario or a long wait such as:

Help is on its way.
I am glad we are together.
I am looking after you.
I love you and I care about you.

I was looking for emergency exit pictures and came across this in my photo collection.

When I was in Singapore near a swimming pool, with coconuts on the ground, and workmen up a ladder pulling down the coconuts for safety reasons, I chatted to the men, got a free coconut, and learned about coconuts. 

Back in London, far away from coconut trees, this advertisement provides some light hearted relief. to end on a bright note, every day there are dangers, but every day there are thousands of near misses and lucky escapes. Look after yourself!

Author
Angela Lansbury,
Travel writer and photographer.
Author of How To Get Out Of The Mess You're In and 20 other books.

See my other posts on health and safety for travelers, great destinations, and learning languages.

Story on BBC New about the cliff side disaster averted in the Alps.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe- 

Fun Facts For Everybody About Formula One, and Cars In California and Worldwide

Formula one race took place in Singapore yesterday, Sunday September 19 2016. Even if you have little interest in Formula one, and cannot see the race or attend it, you must have seen information on it in the newspapers or on TV.
How might it affect you?

1 You can watch the race if you can afford a ticket.
2 You can watch the race on TV.
3 You might have to avoid the area during the race time - I saw signs in advance warning of road closures and I took pictures of the signs.
4 You might have to listen to a family member telling you about the race.
5 You might be wondering whether it will be going ahead (what could stop it - the haze) and if it goes ahead, what's in it for you?
6 You can see pictures of the finish with fireworks online.
7 You can learn about the race and cars and its implications for cards worldwide.

Last year when I was in Singapore we were all worried about the F1 potentially being cancelled because of the haze. Cancellation would have been bad for the Singapore economy. Our friend who goes to the FI race for his birthday would have been disappointed.

Fortunately no haze this week this year - apparently the winds over Indonesia blew away the smoke from forest fires leaving lovely clear skies so everybody was breathing easy in Singapore. However,

FACT 1 DRIVERS ARE HOT
Yes I know that if you are a racing car enthusiast your favourite F! driver is 'hot' metaphorically, but drivers are physically hot. They can be inside a car up to two hours, driving around a circuit, strapped inside a car, going around a race track inside a car at high speed, one short stretch inside a tunnel.
It's hot inside the cars. It's so hot that the drivers have to drink water during the race. Some drivers ask for a reminder message to be sent that they should drink water.

FACT 2 WHEELS ARE CHANGED IN 2 AND A HALF SECONDS
Have you ever needed a wheel change? How long did it take? The F1 drivers who need a wheel change get it done in two and a half seconds.
Did I hear right? Surely that's twenty seconds - under a minute - really impressive.
Not twenty seconds, two and a half seconds!
How is that possible?

FACT 3 HOW THEY CHANGE WHEELS FAST
They have a man in front with the stop and go flag.
Car races in.
The jack - up man or men raise the car.
A team of people for removing wheels. One person with a large electrically driven rotating bolt turner to remove bolts from one wheel; later re-fix bolts on the next wheel. Four of those.
The wheel lifters. On each wheel, somebody to remove the released wheel; and somebody to replace with the new wheel.
After the wheel is lifted off -
The bolt or screw on machinery holders leaps forward.
After wheel is on - Four people raise a flag by each wheel.
When all four flags are raised the man with the stop-go flat raises his flag.
Driver roars off.

At the end the winners are announced and then the fireworks light up the skies.
If you are sitting at home you can see the fireworks on your screen.

It's over. So how does the knowledge of it benefit me or change my world?

One of my friends celebrated his birthday by going to the F1 race. You might buy somebody a ticket for their birthday.

FUEL in F1 cars
The braking in F1 cars is used to provide energy to re-charge the battery. Why? Because it's efficient and the manufacturers and organisers want to be seen as environmentally friendly.

This is the same system used in hybrid cars. They use braking energy to convert into power to keep the batteries going.

Did the F1 and racing car development necessarily cause the development of cars this way? My informant, (a racing car enthusiast in my family) told me that cars for the road and cars for the races were both probably working on the same idea and development independently. It's all a bit technical for me. If you want to know more, check it out on line.

CALIFORNIAN INFLUENCE
The idea of using brake energy to recycle energy for use by cars came from California where the laws about vehicle emissions prompted research and development of the use of less polluting of air from emissions from diesel and petrol (which Americans call gas).

BIRTHDAYS & FIREWORKS
So, now we have ideas for birthday presents, a glimpse of life in Singapore and Indonesia and how one affects another, how California influences cars production and cars on roads worldwide, and how racing cars and hybrid cars on our roads operate. I'm off to look at fireworks on line.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker