Student Driver Plunges Car Into Water During Driving Lesson

[matcom]

<snip>

A Santa Clara County sheriff's deputy jumped into the water at the Alviso Marina today and pulled a woman from a car that plunged down an embankment while the victim's sister was teaching her to drive.

The condition of the woman, who was being given cardiopulmonary resuscitation when she left in an ambulance, was unknown as of noon, said San Jose fire Capt. Allison Cabral.

The names of the women, both in their 30s, were not immediately disclosed.

One sister was giving the other a driving lesson in the parking lot of the marina when the student driver suddenly panicked after making a wrong move in response to her sister's turn command. The student hit the accelerator instead of the brake and plunged down an embankment into an inlet filled with water. Cabral estimated the depth of the water at 8 to 15 feet.

The woman in the passenger seat slipped to safety through the open passenger side window of the sinking black 1993 Nissan Sentra, and told her sister to do the same because she couldn't get her own window open. But instead, her sister climbed into the back seat as the water rose in the front through the open front window.

A sheriff's deputy nearby drove to the water's edge and jumped in. By the time he pulled the woman from the car, she had been under water for ``several minutes,'' Cabral said.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8266627.htm

[papau]

1. haven't we all done this?

:-)

[izzie]

2. I had a friend that roll hers 3 times with the teacher in car.

I really found it so funny and could not stop laughing. My father said when he had the man in his car to get his lic. he ran into the front of a store. Well he used to say brakes were not very good in those days. But it was a family joke and he got a kick out of it. He got his lic.This was back in the 20's.Oh he was from Ma.