Water, especially when it's tumultuous like you describe, typically reflects emotional unrest. Something is wrong within, and it's threatening to your subconscious mind. Carl Jung, as well as a plethora of other dream interpreters, make the stance that while characters in dreams may resemble people you know, they are actually representations of parts of yourself. If the characters do resemble people you know in waking life, then you have to ask what do you see in both them and yourself? That would be what these characters identify. So there you are, in this car, with these parts of yourself...facing an emotional unrest. The car, by the way, would probably be the reflection of your body - mobile, but facing a point of no way out. It may also reflect where you see yourself at this point in your life - again, seeming to see no way out of this unrest. You do manage to escape the waters safely. But this anger toward your handbag... does it feel justified in the dream? There is a feeling of unspoken understanding here, that you will have to lose something small to escape unharmed. But is it such a big deal to lose? That would be what the feeling of justification would tell you. Mike was spot on, I think, with the considering of the waters. What emotions were connected with it? Whatever it was, it was building up, rising to the edge of the cliff.