Safety boost from being well-read

Red is a universal sign of danger. It’s also the colour our faces turn when we do something stupid.

Every year, Search and Rescue teams swing into action after people get into trouble while tackling the great outdoors.

All too often, the callouts are because people break basic rules. Frequently, they fail to tool up for or give due respect to the sheer physicality of New Zealand alpine

Some take for granted the professionalism of our SAR teams and their willingness to respond to the call.

conditions, such as rapid and extreme weather-swings, avalanches, slips or river level surges.

Some take for granted the professionalism of our SAR teams and their willingness to respond to the call, often in appalling conditions. Their lifesaving efforts – whether part of the job or voluntary – are part of the New Zealand way and we would not want otherwise.

How frustrating, though, for searchers to find themselves involved in so many difficult, dangerous – and completely avoidable – emergencies.

As one police SAR co-ordinator Steve Savage puts it: ‘‘It’s like, don’t swim with the crocodiles, and people still do it’’.

To that end, an initiative from one Department of Conservation ranger is worth noting.

Concerned too many people ignore avalanche danger signs in Nelson Lakes National Park, Paul Dulieu’s good idea ought to make the potential risk more obvious.

Fifty new bright red signs have been placed in strategic parts of the increasingly popular – and highly avalanche-prone – TraversSabine track.

They replace the old warning signs in traditional, conservative, DOC green and yellow – more easily overlooked, perhaps, and also carrying less information than the new version.

Dulieu deserves praise for suggesting the new look, as does the department for recognising its merit and adopting it. Other DOC regions and even local authorities would do well to consider adopting this look-at-me approach to better highlight dangers in their own parks and reserves.

Often people working at the coalface see both problem and solution, but their initiatives aren’t always taken up.

Red for danger seems such an obvious connection. Hopefully the public will take more notice of the new signs, and the dangers subsequently reduced. We don’t want SAR controllers seeing red.