January 2010 Featured Story
Know what to do if your car brings down a power line
After Lee Whittaker, Ashley Taylor and David Wooldridge saw a power line safety demonstration at their high school, they knew what to do when the Ford Bronco they were riding in struck a utility pole. They heeded the advice safety expert Kyle Finley had presented in his Live Line Demo program and stayed in the vehicle.
Safe Electricity’s 2010 Teach Learn Care TLC campaign strives to increase awareness about the dangers when power lines are brought down in car accidents.
Lee and Ashley are sharing their story as the centerpiece of the campaign. “That information saved my life and my friends’ lives,” said Lee.
According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, in 2008 almost 2,000 people were killed in collisions involving utility poles. There are tens of thousands of incidents each year in which power poles are struck by cars or large equipment. Each one of these accidents has the potential to bring down power lines. Without awareness of the right moves to make, surviving the accident itself might not be enough to stay alive.
Fallen power lines can stay energized. And unlike how they’re often seen in movies and TV, they don’t necessarily have to be sparking and hissing. They can be silent laying on a car or ground and still be energized and deadly. You cannot tell. The electricity carried by power lines always seeks a path to ground. Anyone stepping out of the car could create a path and be killed instantly.
In the vast majority of accidents, inside the car is the safest place to be. If you are inside, warn others to stay away. If you come up to an accident involving power lines, stay in your car and warn others to stay away. Use a cell phone to call 9-1-1, or yell to others to get help.
Only in the rare instance of fire should people exit the car. Then, they must know how to do so safely — jumping free and clear of the vehicle, never touching the car and ground at the same time. They must land away from the power lines with feet together, and hop away. It’s difficult to get out without creating a path for current to flow; this is why one should get out only if forced to.
To learn more about the teens’ experience and power line safety during car accidents, see the video on www.SafeElectricity.org. Visitors can also watch a streamed live power line demonstration, just like the one these teens saw at their school.
Safe Electricity is a public awareness program of the Energy Education Council, a registered 501 (c) 3 non-profit dedicated to promoting electrical safety and energy efficiency. Indiana’s electric cooperatives are members and supporters of Safe Electricity.
Go to January’s Featured Story on power line safety.
Written By: eceditor
Date Posted: 12/30/2009
Number of Views: 266
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