Driver Education Initiative Award : Self Evaluation

What’s the best way to beat the summer heat, get a million dollar tan, and keep people safe all at once? Easy, become a lifeguard at your local campground. Or, at least that’s what I thought. I worked as a lifeguard for four years, two of which I was the lead. It’s also important to mention this campground was located on a main highway connecting my hometown and the neighboring city. It’s quite curvy and tends to be a common road for speeding, despite the limit being 55 MPH. You can clearly hear all of the commotion that comes along with being next to it, rumble strips, horns honking, and music blaring. Sitting less than 200 feet from the road, you become accustomed to it all.

During my first summer as “boss”, I was on the stand of one pool, my coworker and close friend was on the stand watching the other pool. There was also a third lifeguard in the guardhouse, and we all rotated every 30 minuets to avoid boredom and heat exhaustion. Not even 5 minuets into this first rotation, I heard tires squeal. I whipped my body around just in time to see a car flip three times and land nose down in the ditch, right in front of the campground. I stood up on my stand and screamed “Someone call 911 right now”, and to my surprise, everyone just looked at me. All fell silent, no one moved, just looked at me. I jumped down from my chair and took off in a dead sprint. The lifeguard who was in the guard-shack at the time was running towards me with her cell phone saying “I can’t I’m scared you have to do it”. I grabbed the phone, trying to communicate as clearly as possible with the operator as I ran full speed in just a bikini, to the most gruesome sight I have ever seen.

As I approached the car a middle aged man got out of the drivers seat and began to walk towards the trunk. A young women hung halfway out of the passenger door and what was left of her legs were wedged tightly against the dash. In the backseat a teen screamed “I saw what you did, and I fucking hate you” over and over. I knew the passenger was beyond my skills and told the man to sit down in case he was injured. He told me “She’s pregnant”. My heart sank. The driver was clearly under the influence of something. I had never even been in a car accident, let alone witness one as gruesome as that. Professionals eventually arrived, I was interviewed by police, and the passenger was flighted. I had to return to work as if nothing even happened. I was terrified to drive home. I could not get the sound and image out of my head. Every time a car hit the rumble strips from then on it was instinct to whip around and make sure there wasn’t a car in the ditch feet away from me.

About a month later, the fire department did their annual training at our pool. I was guarding and making conversation when one recognized me from the accident. He applauded me for my action and acknowledged the insanity of the events leading up to the crash. I looked at him with wide eyes and asked if he was allowed to tell me. He was shocked to find out I did not already know. Apparently the driver was the father of the teen in the backseat, and the passenger was his pregnant girlfriend. He was driving to their home in the neighboring city, while extremely intoxicated (might I add at 3 p.m.). The girlfriend did a “whip-it”, or inhaled nitrous oxide, inducing a screaming match between the couple. Then, out of anger she grabbed the wheel, causing them to flip three times and land right before my eyes.

Thus, this horrific event enlightened me to a massive fault in human nature. The luxury of cars, being able to travel great distance, at great speeds, in little time. The concept seems futuristic, but instead brings forth barbarism. We get too comfortable, too confident. Irresponsibility hides in the shadows of over confidence. When you are 16 in drivers ed, being warned about the dangers of alcohol, you can not fathom who would risk getting behind the wheel in that state. When you are 40, with a high alcohol tolerance and over 20 years on the road under your belt, you can see driving yourself home after a boozy lunch. The line becomes blurrier the luckier you get. The risk seems farther away as your self confidence grows. Humans are bound to gain confidence on the road with practice and time. Whether or not their confidence outgrows their reason determines their responsibility. Exemplified by my first car accident, the father was overconfident his abilities could get him and his family home safely while intoxicated, the girlfriend was overconfident in his abilities to keep them on the road when she grabbed the wheel. The safety of yourself and others is dependent on your own ability to self evaluate.