NOTHING CAN HURT ME. I'M ON VACATION!
Living on a resort island on the Crystal Coast of North Carolian, sometimes I want to shake vacationers for their carelessness. Don't misunderstand. We love our tourists. In fact, we depend on them for a huge percentage of our local income. We want them safe and happy...and spending money and living to return.
Living and working here 365 days a year I often see otherwise intelligent, cautious people doing things they'd never do "back home". Such as:
- Driving while drinking.
- Allowing children to ride in the back of pick-ups or unbuckled and standing up in moving convertibles
- Riding bikes barefoot and without helmets
- Running across the road without looking
- Stopping their vehicles in the middle of the road to "chat" with somebody in a vehicle going the other way.
We (locals) actually look out for our visitors. We go ahead and slow down when we see walkers approaching the road, just in case they don't stop. (Often they don't.) We stay back and really avoid tailgaiting just in case that out of towner in front of us decides to stop in the road. But they scare us because we really do care about them and we even understand (sort of) the mentality of "I'm on vacation. I'm invincible." We watch out for bikes; and I for one pray a lot. "Oh, God, please don't let that guy dart out in front of me."
We post signs and place flyers in hotels and condos about one of the most dangerous situations of all -- Rip Currents. And yet, every year, we have a few drownings on our beaches due to rip currents. I can't remember the victim ever being a local. Locals know better.
So, visitors, please, stay out of the water if the Rip Current warning flags are out. Don't tell me what a strong swimmer you are. We have surfers and beach bums around here who are in the water almost every day...except when the rip currents are strong. They know to be safe. Even strong swimmers drown in rip currents. Please go play miniature (or regular) golf, soak up some rays, check out the pool, visit the water park, shop, do something else until the currents are safe. We really do love you.
From Google: Rip currents are a source of danger for people in ocean surf. They can be extremely dangerous, dragging swimmers away from the beach. Death by drowning comes following exhaustion while fighting the ocean current.
Although a rare event, rip currents can be deadly for non-swimmers as well; a person standing waist deep in water can be dragged into deeper waters, where they drown if they are unable to swim and are not wearing a flotation device.
Rip currents cause approximately 120 deaths annually in the United States. Rip currents cause 80% of rescues by beach lifeguards.
Summer is just around the corner and we're already preparing for our tourists to return. Start thinking now about being safe.
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