NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
It was New Year’s Day and I’d spent the previous night celebrating by downing beers with my buddies. Crawling out of the rack about the following morning, I planned to hit the road for my girlfriend’s house. I’d gotten about seven hours of sleep, but I was still dragging. I washed down a bite to eat with a glass of water and was out the door. I figured it would take me two hours to get from Chicago to my girlfriend’s place in Milwaukee. Little did I know it would take me much longer than I’d planned.
I’d been on the road about an hour and a half when the snow and wind started blowing hard, making the highway very slippery. There were lots of cars on the road and I saw many of them sliding on the ice. I knew it was a bad situation, but I wanted to see my girlfriend. I had a bad case of “get-there-itis.”
I had everything under control until I approached a bridge overpass. I was doing about 35 mph when a Mayflower moving van flew by me on the left. He passed so closely that he clipped my driver-side mirror. The unexpected “tap” from the moving van overcame what little traction my old, worn-out tires could provide. I tried to maintain control, but I was no match for the icy roadway. My truck started fishtailing and slid sideways. I thought, “This is it!” as I slammed into the guardrail and went off the road. My pickup rolled over three times before I finally landed upside down at the bottom of the hill. Fuel started rushing into the cab as I hung from my seat belt, which kept me from being ejected or slammed around inside the cab.
Because I was still conscious and uninjured, I was able to do something about my predicament. I couldn’t open the seat belt’s buckle because of the tension created by my body weight as I hung upside down. The only way I could get free was to cut the seat belt with my knife. Once I was free, I used the knife’s butt to break through the shattered windshield and crawl out. Fortunately, the only injuries I’d suffered were a few minor cuts and scrapes. When the paramedics examined me, they didn’t find any serious injuries. I didn’t even have to go to the hospital.
I have no doubt that wearing my seat belt saved my life. However, I should have used better judgment in my decision to travel that day. I was tired, the weather was terrible and my tires were in bad shape. Luck is no alternative to poor judgment. Having the ability to make sound decisions is the first step to saving lives. That’s what risk management is about. You look at the risks and figure out whether it’s worth taking them or if you can come up with a better plan. It beats learning your lessons the hard way.
FYI
Have you ever gotten drunk and been told to “sleep it off?” Do you think that advice really worked? Just how rested were you when you woke up? Maybe it was a lot less than you realize.
According to sleepfoundation.org, alcohol can disrupt the body’s sleep cycle and decrease sleep quality. A study determined having more than two drinks for men and more than one drink for women decreased sleep quality by more than 39%. So, while an individual may have been in bed for eight hours, they awake less rested than had they not consumed alcohol. Being mentally fatigued can keep them from effectively weighing the risks in a situation they are about to enter.
Although many people don’t realize it, alcohol packs a one-two punch when it comes to impairment. First, being intoxicated degrades your reasoning abilities and can easily set you up for an accident. Second, waking mentally fatigued reduces your judgment well into the next day. In both cases, you’re less likely to control the hazards that can turn you from a Soldier into a statistic.