picking locks

[chris]

> Now that is weird.  I read somewhere (or saw a survival show) that EVERYONE
>should carry a center punch in their cars just in case you car gets
>submerged in water.  Use the center punch on you side windows to get out,
>otherwise it would be impossible to open the door....

Although I can't dispute this idea, I've been curious exactly how hard it 
really would be to open a car door under water. You have air pressure 
inside the car trying to escape, and although the door would be slow, it 
shouldn't cease to open.

But I admit, that is one of the few car accident scenarios in which I 
have not trained. (We don't really have deep enough water in my covered 
towns to be an issue... although we did have a car in a swimming pool not 
too long ago, but that was a first for us... a drunk guy drove down 
someone's driveway instead of the on ramp to the highway... when we got 
there, he still couldn't figure out where the highway was... and what a 
swimming pool was doing blocking the road.)

I do laugh at those emergency tools that are now being sold for car 
owners (that thing that looks like a mutant hammer, it has a center 
punch, a seat belt cutter, and I'm not sure what else on it). With all 
the accidents I've seen, any that a person would have a need to use such 
a tool, they are either not in a position to use the tool, or not in a 
condition to use the tool (kind of hard to cut your seat belt if you are 
unconscious with the dashboard in your lap)

Personally, I see those as just another sucker product. My same feeling 
would apply to anyone carrying a center punch specifically to break the 
window if you drive into water. How many times in the past HAVE you 
driven into water, and when you did, what was your condition at the time, 
and where was the location of the punch relative to you, and how long 
would it take you to get to it vs how much time do you have to escape. 
All in all, its kind of silly, because the only time you will need it, 
you likely won't be able to use it.

(I carry one not for my benefit, but for that of others... mine is in my 
med kit in my trunk, so I couldn't access it for myself even if I wanted 
to)

-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>