Posted on 07/10/2011 1:32:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SUNDAY, July 10 (HealthDay News) -- Drinking and water sports are highlights of summer fun for many Americans, but mixing the two can be hazardous, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism warns.
Alcohol is involved in half of all water recreation-related deaths of teens and adults, according to the NIAAA, which outlined a number of potentially dangerous scenarios:
Alcohol can impair swimmers' judgment and increase their risk-taking. For example, swimmers may go out farther than they should and be unable to make it back to shore, or they may not notice how cold they're getting and develop hypothermia.
Around the pool, inebriated divers may collide with the diving board or plunge into water that is too shallow.
Surfers who've been drinking may become over-confident and try to ride a wave that's too difficult for them.
Among boaters, alcohol can impair judgment, balance, vision and reaction time. Alcohol may be involved in up to 60 percent of boating deaths, including falling overboard, the NIAAA said in a news release. A boat operator with a blood alcohol concentration greater than 0.1 percent is 16 times more likely to be killed in a boating accident than someone with a zero blood alcohol level.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
IOW .. Be careful!
especially to all those who underestimate the power of river currents with the hugh snowpack melting.. the rescue crews are tired of pulling folks out of danger and need some rest..
Hey Norm!
Great weather finally!
wow..did we really need an article to explain this to us? I live on the Colorado River, all summer long I see these boaters and jet skiiers doing dumb things because they’re drunk. I’ve seen people killed as well.
I believe this is one of those NSS moments.
Hey Norm, hold my beer. Watch this.
We had a guy drown on one of our local lakes the other day. Drinking and screwing around in a ski boat.
Juggling loaded, fully automatic MAC-10s while in a state of alcohol-fueled stark raving lunacy is also a bad idea, IMHO.
DUH!
Yeah, but it kinda calms you down and makes you more accepting of your impending death.
Howdy, hillfolk!
Yup. nice breeze here, low 80s..
tomatos were growing too fast anyway. ;-)
getting the nets ready for the fruit trees,, dang squirrels..
Now there's an unbiased source.
Who's next? Vegetarians condemning ranching?
A feller I work with got a drunk driving ticket while boating on a local county lake.
Independence Day weekend, we had 12 DWIs and 18 BWIs here at Lake of the Ozarks.
A friend of mine drown about a decade back. A few days later I happened to run into one of the cops who responded to the emergency call. He said with the amount of alcohol in my friend’s system, drowning was likely as easy as falling asleep with virtually no struggle. (they found him with his sunglasses still on)
Thank you Captain Obvious!
Wow. That sunglasses part was really sad.
Water, Alcohol Sports Can Be Deadly Mix
Works either way...
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