Why so many diving accidents

[Krakenn]

Having read a few of these related articles now, you guys (Yanks) seem to have an extraordinary amount of dving accidents in the USA. In Australia we would have to have a Royal Commission into the 'whys' of this.

I put it down to the fact that you outnumber us Aussies 10 to 1 but still there seems to be a constant flow of dive accidents resulting in death reported on this site.

Why is this, is it training, gear maintenance, over-confidence or just carelessness? Interested to hear the comments we could do our own gap analysis, if there is one.

Kraks

[Aussie]

Population of USA is approximately 300 million vs 20 million Aussies. I think it would be based on actual of number of divers vs accidents. USA has more divers 15:1 ratio so therefore more chance of accidents.

Aussie

[cgvmer]

You hear of more diving accidents because the reporters aren't doing their duty of informing the public...they would rather stick to sensational news.

[Dive-aholic]

I don't know what the media in Australia is like, but in the US they try to sensationalize everything. If it includes death, it's news.

Aside from that, I'd guess that the deaths are a combination of poor training and/or complacency. People are breaking rules, whether it's the instructor or just a diver out on a dive. Unfortunately, they're paying for it with their lives.

[Krakenn]

Does anyone know how many certified divers there are in Australia and America?



Kraks

[No Misses]

Unfortunately, we often don't see the root cause of the incident. The story is printed way before the coroners report. I suspect that there is a large percentage of “dive related fatalities” that have little to do with diving. If you have a heart attack, stroke, black out, etc while diving, it gets reported as a diving accident. Sure some of these conditions may have been exacerbated by the activity of diving. Here in Florida, I see a lot of “non athletic” people diving. I apologize to anybody that I have offended with this statement. Let us assume that 2 divers are dropping in on a wreck. The current is running 3 knots. As they descend, they realize that they will have to kick it into high gear to reach the leeward side before being swept off the wreck. Assuming that the skill sets are equal (buoyancy, trim, streamlining, etc.) the “out of shape” diver will be breathing harder and have a higher pulse rate than that of the “in shape diver”. Once you start over-breathing your regulator, the anxiety/stress level increases. I can see the headlines now “Diver Dies on Wreck”. It makes no difference how he died. It will be reported as a dive related fatality.

Most diving fatalities are written off as drowning by the coroner. “Diver was found with regulator out of mouth and water was found in lungs”. We seldom learn if there was anything leading up to the “drowning”. Did the diver have a seizure, from O2 toxicity or some other medical reason? Did the heart attack happen because of the drowning or did the drowning happen because of the heart attack? These are questions that will never be answered. Unlike the television shows, we do not always find out exactly what happened. In the end does it really matter? Does the family of the deceased really care which came first? Sure they would like to know why this happened. But, the fact is, they lost a loved one.

OK, I have put the soap box away. It is safe to come out now.

[Charlotte Smith]

Originally Posted by No Misses

Unfortunately, we often don't see the root cause of the incident. The story is printed way before the coroners report. I suspect that there is a large percentage of “dive related fatalities” that have little to do with diving. If you have a heart attack, stroke, black out, etc while diving, it gets reported as a diving accident. Sure some of these conditions may have been exacerbated by the activity of diving. Here in Florida, I see a lot of “non athletic” people diving. I apologize to anybody that I have offended with this statement. Let us assume that 2 divers are dropping in on a wreck. The current is running 3 knots. As they descend, they realize that they will have to kick it into high gear to reach the leeward side before being swept off the wreck. Assuming that the skill sets are equal (buoyancy, trim, streamlining, etc.) the “out of shape” diver will be breathing harder and have a higher pulse rate than that of the “in shape diver”. Once you start over-breathing your regulator, the anxiety/stress level increases. I can see the headlines now “Diver Dies on Wreck”. It makes no difference how he died. It will be reported as a dive related fatality.

Most diving fatalities are written off as drowning by the coroner. “Diver was found with regulator out of mouth and water was found in lungs”. We seldom learn if there was anything leading up to the “drowning”. Did the diver have a seizure, from O2 toxicity or some other medical reason? Did the heart attack happen because of the drowning or did the drowning happen because of the heart attack? These are questions that will never be answered. Unlike the television shows, we do not always find out exactly what happened. In the end does it really matter? Does the family of the deceased really care which came first? Sure they would like to know why this happened. But, the fact is, they lost a loved one.

OK, I have put the soap box away. It is safe to come out now.

Spoken like a true diver...stay on the soap-box if you want.....my thoughts exactly...

[Aussie]

Where I live we had a incident two weeks ago where a lady was on a surf ski and was bumped off by a shark. She recieved 4 sitches on her wrist and a few teeth marks in her ski. She told the news crew that it was a Great White Shark and it was 8-9 foot long.

So the media was onto it like fleas to a dog and before you know it news papers had front page cover with this lady with her 4 stiches and a huge Great White behind her. Anything to sell papers or to get on TV. I think it actually made it on TV in Europe.

Aussie

[fireflock]

In addition to what has been posted (population, media), we have a lot of middle aged out of shape divers for whom swimming back to the anchor line is the most strenuous thing they've done in a while. A heart attack while diving is classified as a diving accident. A heart attack while watching TV is called a heart attack.


Seriously - keep your ticker in decent shape.

[RonFrank]

Originally Posted by fireflock

In addition to what has been posted (population, media), we have a lot of middle aged out of shape divers for whom swimming back to the anchor line is the most strenuous thing they've done in a while. A heart attack while diving is classified as a diving accident. A heart attack while watching TV is called a heart attack.


Seriously - keep your ticker in decent shape.

Hey,

Is this whom I think it is! If your name starts with an 'R', stand up please!