Drownings

January 12th, 2013 at 11:00 am by David Farrar

Today’s Herald story is:

The Government is being urged to stump up the cash for surf lifesavers and Coastguard operations, as figures show New Zealand has the third highest drowning rate in the OECD.

Yesterday’s Herald story was:

New Zealand had its lowest drowning death toll in six years last year

Now the two stories are not contradictory but I find it puzzling that the stat on the lowest toll in the last six years wasn’t included in today’s story. It is clearly relevant to the story.

In terms of the international comparisons, I presume they are per capita. What would be interesting is if they could be calculated in terms of number of days spent doing water activities.

Having said all that, I’m not against more resources in this area. Our rate is much higher than Australia’s and they certainly spend as much time on the water as we do, if not more.

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Thank God they saw sense

June 25th, 2012 at 3:00 pm by David Farrar

Iain Lees-Galloway blogs at Red Alert:

National’s irrational fear of being tagged with the ‘Nanny State’ label they successfully over-hyped against Labour has just jumped the shark.

3 News reported tonight that optics man Steven Joyce pulled a last minute flip-flop on making life jackets compulsory on small boats.

Associate Transport Minister Simon Bridges, sounding like he was on morphine, gave National’s reasoning as not wanting to over-regulate.

What the hell? We have tragedies like  this happening all the time because our laws are inadequate and wearing of life jackets is unenforceable.

Oh my God, I can’t believe that Labour wants to have water police motoring around and fining people for not having a life jacket on at all times.

Having life jackets on board at all times is essential. But making it compulsory to wear them at all times would  be a step too far.

I recall the last time I went out fishing. It was a beautiful day as we caught fish, cooked the fish and ate it. I also dived off the boat and swam around a bit before coming back on to dry off in the sun. Having to have a life jacket on at all times, would have seriously got in the way of fishing and sun bathing. As adults we made the decision that the boat was sturdy enough (close to the 6 metre limit for the proposed law) and the conditions calm enough that it would be ridiculous over-kill to be wearing life jackets. If I was in a two metre dinghy on a stormy choppy day, then I would wear one. It is called judging the conditions.

Yes it is sad when people die at sea. But going to sea always has an element of risk. Swimming at the beach is bloody risky also sometimes. I do not want to live in a society when the only goal of the Government is to eliminate risk, at the expense of choice and enjoyment.

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Posted in NZ Politics | 46 Comments »