More caps, eyes, ears will help save lives
ROB “Dr Rip’’ Brander argues that red and yellow beach flags have become little more than white noise for bathers.
I disagree. They have and will continue to save innumerable lives and make it safe for families to enjoy Australia’s wonderful beaches.
But just as some people choose to gamble recklessly, drink to excess, speed dangerously, and snort, inhale or inject stimulants while largely aware of the risks, so too some will ignore safe strategies on beaches. Some people make risky choices and that’s OK. It’s just that bad things can happen when they do.
Deaths can be reduced, but the political issue then becomes the cost per incremental life saved. Frankly, the kind of money needed to substantially reduce beach drownings would probably save a lot more lives were it diverted to medical emergencies in hospitals, preventable disease or road deaths.
On average there’s a beach drowning per week, although with the unerring predictability without which statistics would be a bankrupt science, we know this will continue to peak in December, particularly on Sunday afternoons; that 20 per cent will be overseas tourists; and 80 per cent of victims will be blokes.
The helicopter will be hovering low over 40 lifeless bodies on the Gold Coast next decade unless something changes. Rips are 16 times more likely to kill than sharks.
Surf Life Saving works hard to promote the simple safety message of swimming between the flags. However simple doesn’t mean easy, for naivety, machismo, cognitive dissonance and a few beers conspire to make this message ignorable for many.
How can advertising persuade a bulletproof teen that a rip might take them?
History tells us behaviour change campaigns that don’t reinforce the self-image of the target, tend not to work.
While I agree education about rips will help, more effective advertising is only a tiny part of the answer. It will educate a few, but probably make little difference to the death toll.
Risky fun is too enculturated for jingles.
The answer probably lies in more moving things – more eyes, arms and legs attached to lifesaving caps, more flags, helicopters and more drones.