NJ drivers: This car escape tool could save your life

This summer has been eventful when it comes to rain . Am I the only one who feels like New Jersey has had more flash flood warnings pop up on our phones than usual?

On Friday Aug. 7, yet again, water rescues were making news. One involved Glen Rock first responders saving two people from a car rapidly filling with water.

Five years ago, when Ida hit and dozens of people were swept away to their deaths, I could have been among them. I was caught in rapidly rising floodwaters on Route 31 in Mercer and Huntington counties that were so deep I felt my car almost at the point of leaving the road.

While flash floods are to be taken seriously, it’s not the only water danger for drivers. One accident can have a car go off a road or bridge and start taking on water quickly. My colleague Jen Ursillo just wrote an important piece on how to survive a car filling with water.

There’s one thing that might save you if the unthinkable happens. Whether you’re in a sinking car and can’t get the doors open or have been in a different accident and are trapped in your vehicle, there’s a tool that can not only break the windows to escape but also cut your way out of a jammed seatbelt.

It’s an emergency escape tool. Here’s the one I carry inside my center console.

It’s a 2-in-1 tool. This has a heavy-duty steel tip designed to shatter your car windows.

They say it’s best to go for the corners of the window top and bottom rather than dead center as those areas are weaker.

In an emergency when seconds can count, you or a passenger might be trapped by a jammed seatbelt. The other end of this cool tool is specifically made to easily cut right through them and free a person.

These are made by various manufacturers, and they won’t all look like mine. But getting one and leaving it in your car is smart. You’ll likely never need it. But needing it and not having it?

Tragic.