The SEA The DANGER When will WE ever learn

[in a mo]

In the News recently there has been a number of tragic accidents involving Drowning, what can you say to people ,there are signs everywhere ,the little boy who was playing on the Slip Way only inches from the water ,is it because people have no sense , or they do not care ,it will never happen to them, may be they cannot read,I cried last night when I saw on the Television News where it happened ,the Life Boat launches from these placed ,would we play outside the entrance to a Fire Station ,Airport Runway,My friends laugh at me because I go on about being safe , whether it be walking home at night alone ,taking risks crossing the road, anything that involves common sense it just seems to pass some people right by,please think ,only this morning 3 people went into the water ,2 have died ,the bodies have been recovered ,as up until this moment the little boy has not been found but I hope and I pray with all of my heart that this tragic ordeal ends soon.
Please Be Safe.

[Zacs-Master]

...and don't have nightmares.

[jake-the-peg]

On the other hand millions of people go swimming in the sea every year without managing to kill themselves.

It's easy to get risks out of proportion when you look at them out of context - You can't spend your life wrapped in cotton wool frightened of what might happen.

The trick is to be able to distinguish silly risks like playing on Railway lines or running a level crossing from acceptible risks like going swimming in the sea or walking home at night in a safe area

[ummmm]

Of course they care.

[China Doll]

Good grief... of course they care and hysterical posts like this just come across as patronising, scare mongering and a bit smug. We all do what we can to be safe, sometimes mistakes are made, I imagine if you pay the highest cost for a mistake that you will always live with then people who say 'I told you so' are slightly unhelpful.

[Zacs-Master]

At last CD a real picture of you. Gorgeous!

[ummmm]

I nearly drowned when I was 4. Had I not nearly have drowned my parents would have been very angry with me for wondering off and falling in the water.

[boxtops]

It never ceases to amaze me that people take risks with tiny children when storms bring big waves onto the shore, or slapping up promenades. I know this wasn't the case in the current incident (nor when my sister and her OH were caught in a mini-tsunami in the Bahamas) but to deliberately take a child near stormy seas is foolhardy.

[andy-hughes]

in a mo - your comparison to lifeboat launches, fire station entrances and runways really do not compare.

People are not allowed airside, less because they are likely to get run over by a plane, than because they may tamper with one before take-off.

Almost all fire-stations cross pavements, and there are lights and bells to warn of a emergency, and the tenders emerging at speed. The location of a lifeboat jetty in no way indicates that the sea is dangerous - merely accessible.

This has been a terrible tragedy, which may have been forseeable, but sadly was not on this occasion.

To assume that the human race is inherently careless and stupid when it comes to common sense self-preservation is unkind, and unhelpful, although I do not believe that was your message when posting.

[ummmm]

Was there a storm? I haven't read that ...

I must admit that I wouldn't have my kids near rough seas. I'm a strong swimmer and have got into difficulty in the past. Very very scary.

[Frank97]

I think any one would be in trouble if they fell into the water at that particular spot in Burnham, especially if the tide was going out. I used to play on that very jetty when I was a kid, throwing sticks and cans into the water, it was incredible how fast they would be taken out to sea or under it if caught in an eddy.

[Zacs-Master]

This area has the second highest 'range' betwen high tide and low tide in the world and I believe it's connected to the Severn Bore.

[Frank97]

Yes, that's correct!

[jaberwocky]

used to be in merchant navy.i have seen what the sea can do to a heavy steel structure.a child,adult etc stand no chance.you are right, people will never learn.so many underestimate the power.