An automatic pool cover may have saved the life of a woman who unintentionally drove across it during an accident in Westfield, Indiana.
The incident took place sometime during an evening last summer when the driver of the car, a mid-size Chevrolet SUV, attempted to turn around in the homeowner’s driveway. However, instead of returning to the street, the woman drove across the yard, onto the covered pool, hit and destroyed the pool’s driving board, and then coasted down over a hill into the creek below.
The incident was relayed by Brad Lovins, owner of Lovins Select Pool and Spa in Columbus, Indiana, who services the homeowner’s pool, and who emphasized that the pool is nowhere near the street. Lovin’s received a text the following morning, asking him to come inspect the cover, manufactured by Automatic Pool Covers Inc. (APC) of Westfield, Indiana, because there had been some kind of incident.
According to Lovins, the homeowners didn’t hear anything during the night and only came to understand what had occurred when they went out to their pool to open up the automatic cover for the day as was their routine. Doing this, they noticed a black mark and hole in the cover and then looked up and saw a red car that had nosedived into the creek below their house.
Lovins arrived to inspect the cover as the police arrived to make their report. When the police went to inspect the car, however, they found the woman still inside of it, disoriented. “Essentially, the driver spent the night in the car,” Lovins said, adding, “They didn’t arrest the driver. They just took her home and had the car pulled out of the creek.”
Lovins said that the homeowners were amazed that the car didn’t go through the cover, sinking to the bottom of the pool. They said the automatic pool cover probably saved her life.
Lovins was no less impressed with the pool cover and was shocked to discover that it was still fully functional.
“There were no issues with the cover — just a gouge in the coping and a small hole in the cover,” Lovins said. “What’s really amazing is that if they had not spun the tires on the wall cap, it would not have torn up the cover at all. But in trying to get the car out of the pool, they spun the tires and spun a small hole in the cover.”
Furthermore, as a customer and dealer of APC, Lovins Select Pool and Spa was very impressed with their customer service. He said that although the original ripped cover still worked, they ordered a brandnew cover, which came with all the necessary parts, and they had it installed within six days.
“APC is an amazing company, and I tell them that all the time,” Lovins said.
