UKC

RNLI - coastal deaths 2015

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 Bulls Crack 09 Jun 2016
BBC news report: 'More than half (52%) of those who died had been walking, running, climbing or angling, the RNLI said. '

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36481944

2015's raw data isn't on the WAID website yet but if similar to last year's proportions then climbing accounted for 2% of coastal deaths - amongst the lowest of the listed activities.

The figures, despite 'hitting a 5 year high' also need to be viewed as a percentage of total visits to the coast for the listed activities to give a more meaningful trend..or not.
KevinD 09 Jun 2016
In reply to Bulls Crack:

That report seems odd.
figures in the report give
168 total
36 running or walking.
11 angling
Being lazy and going for 52% gives 84 minus those two would give 37 "climbing". Which makes it higher than running/walking which contradicts another bit.

Their figures looks to be balls.
Aside from anything else pretty unhelpful without some idea of how many people are involved as you say.

 wintertree 09 Jun 2016
In reply to Bulls Crack:

The "5-year high" attribute is I suspect statistically meaningless given the reported numbers for the last five years (the extent of the data...) - 164, 163, 167, 163, 168. It's statistical noise and there isn't enough data to make a meaningful pronouncement about the trend of coastal deaths rising/falling etc.

Now that the RNLI have an increasing number of commercial contracts to [protect the public] / [harass legitimate beach users a mile away from their patrol zone] (depending on your view) they've got a vested interest in promoting [coast safety] / [the danger of the coast] (depending on your view).

This quote from the article is inexcusable - unless you're talking about the North of Scotland and potentially North East England it's demonstrable nonsense especially for waters close to the coast. - "Even in summer months the sea temperature rarely exceeds 12C (54F),

Cold water is undoubtably a killer and spreading misinformation doesn't help. The article goes on to paint cold water as a near-immediate killer but for most people it gets them by slowly sapping their energy until they can't make it back to the shore of the lake/reservoir/quarry/sea. This insistence on painting cold water as an instant killer means kids see people happily swimming and decide the safety advice is a nonsense, and go out swimming far from the shore then gradually weaken until they can't make it back to land.
Post edited at 11:01
 Dave B 09 Jun 2016
In reply to wintertree:

5 year high is factually correct, but as you say has little statistical significance currently. It all hovers around the 160-170 each year.

Suspect 12 degrees was meant to be 17 degrees C. Its wrong on the RNLI website too. Its just getting to 12-13 degrees now for me and will be that way and above until about November, so about half the year.

When the water is cold, then cold water shock is a problem when entry into the water is unexpected and sudden that can occur. The gasp response occurs about the time people go under and then its a quick drowning event.

For cold water the loss of dexterity is generally the killer (not exhaustion per se), but the lack of ability to actually co-ordinate to swim. Hence the importance of bouyancy aids/lifejackets.

http://www.shipwrite.bc.ca/Chilling_truth.htm is a good write up of information, IMHO.

It was only Tuesday this week that 34 people were rescued from the coast near me. http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/lifeboat-heroes-get-5000-thank-you-9... Without a nearby rescue service its probable a large number of these would have drowned. I think that an additional 34 people drowning might have been statistically significant!

 wintertree 09 Jun 2016
In reply to Dave B:

> It all hovers around the 160-170 each year.

I'm actually eyeing the numbers with some suspicion as the year to year variation is far smaller than I might expect from basic statistics. That itself could just be a small numbers anomaly...

> When the water is cold, then cold water shock is a problem when entry into the water is unexpected and sudden that can occur. The gasp response occurs about the time people go under and then its a quick drowning event.

Yes; we had a tragic drowning near us last year from this. Poor sod saw kids swimming in a river and decided to jump in. I don't think it's the more common cause of fatalities however? Although it doesn't seem to feature in many news reports, quite a few of the local summer river fatalities around here seem to involve alcohol and bad decision making.

> For cold water the loss of dexterity is generally the killer (not exhaustion per se), but the lack of ability to actually co-ordinate to swim. Hence the importance of bouyancy aids/lifejackets.

> http://www.shipwrite.bc.ca/Chilling_truth.htm is a good write up of information, IMHO.

Thanks for that link. I enjoy swimming in cold water and have since I was a child. It's only recently that I've started to worry about weather people watching will then assume they can go for it without any worries, and get themselves into difficulties.

> It was only Tuesday this week that 34 people were rescued from the coast near me. http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dover/news/lifeboat-heroes-get-5000-thank-you-9...

Wow. Humbling experience for the two adults on the trip.
 nniff 09 Jun 2016
In reply to Bulls Crack:

Sorry, wrong number.

If you're at the coast, you'll either be out of the water, or in/on it by intent. If you're out of the water, walking, running, climbing or angling covers most relevant activities.

I've no idea what the participant numbers are, but without those, the stats are just nonsense
In reply to Dave B:

> Suspect 12 degrees was meant to be 17 degrees C

Wiki agrees:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea#Temperature_and_salinity

Temperatures peak in September, e.g.

http://www.seatemperature.org/europe/united-kingdom/bournemouth.htm

Since those readings are provided by NOAA satellite, they are likely to be for fairly deep water, not the warmer temperatures found in the shallower water near the beach, which picks up heat from the sand as the tide comes in. Not that it matters much if you're swept out to deeper water...

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