Don't take risks when you swim.
Posted on 09/14/2009 3:54:15 PM PDT by myknowledge
AUSTRALIA prides itself as the land of sand, sea and surf - but was last year home to the highest number of drownings in five years.
Figures released yesterday by the Royal Life Saving Society provided an ominous warning for the summer ahead as thousands of people flock to beaches and waterways.
There were 302 drowning deaths in 2008-09 - up 41 from the previous year.
It comes as an investigation by The Daily Telegraph found thousands of backyard pools across the state had failed to meet basic safety requirements, with lax councils having failed to carry out safety inspections.
The RLSS report found rivers were the most deadly, followed by oceans and harbours, beaches and swimming pools.
Victims - predominantly male - got into trouble driving on flooded roads, fishing, swimming, diving and using watercraft.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytelegraph.com.au ...
Don't take risks when you swim.
This is interesting. The Dallas area has had a humongous jump in drowings this year, too.
More people die each year from the greenhouse molecule Dihydrogen Monoxide than from Carbon Dioxide.
When home pools are outlawed, only outlaws will have home pools.
clearly racist
Cute (dihydrogen monoxide...). Of course you know this means we have to get rid of this dangerous product. I say we heat it into gaseous form.
I wonder how George Bush pulled this off.
Better get Columbo on this.
Replace the water with Jell-O or Ban Swimming, when will we ever learn that the Government’s main role is to make us all safe little sissy people.
Dihydrogen monoxide? That sounds like a chemical to me!
Careful, it can be quite lethal.
Di-hydrogen monoxide. I seem to remember that dead Ted had troubles with this chemical too.
Some years ago, Phoenix had a terribly problem with child drownings, too. They radically lowered the numbers in two ways, a public information campaign encouraging people to erect pool fences and watch small children around water, and strongly suggesting to pool makers to throw in child fences with their sales package.
The pool makers were happy to do so, because the fences are fairly cheap, and they get a lot of public good will out of it.
It was also a good idea to have the fire department sponsor the info campaign, because they were the ones who really hated drowning calls. A heck of a lot more persuasive than “paid spokespersons”.
Banning swimming will not work, as swimming has been deeply ingrained as an Australian cultural heritage.
That explains why Australia should have adopted this practice.
My childhood pool was a 20,000 gall irrigation tank 
Safety equpiment? Well, I sometimes I had a old truck tyre inner tube 
, but I never considered its primary purpose was safety.
However did us boomers survive without the nanny state?
Basic common sense, and remarkably good perception of danger.
When my parents were children in Vietnam, they used to swim in nearby shallow rivers. People lived, and thrived without a nanny state.
Naaah. Mother Gaia knows what's best for us. She's going to freeze it solid -- real soon now here in the Northern Hemisphere.
The authors got their part of the article wrong.
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