Students & Rivers - H&S gone mad?

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

Mr Badger

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Durham's chief constable has ruled out providing more officers to patrol the banks of the River Wear in the wake of three student drownings in 14 months.

Mike Barton said it was "ludicrous" for officers to be put on riverbanks to stop "bright young things falling in."
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-31145108

This is not long after publicity for similar deaths in the River Avon in Bath and the police seem to be regularly fishing people out of the docks in Bristol these days, leading to some calls to fence them all off from the public.

Obviously it is sad that young people have died and any actually "dangerous" pathways should have course be fixed. However, I'm inclined towards the Chief Constables view that the adults in question have to take some responsibility for their own safety. Too harsh? Should we be doing more to remove such risks to protect those that may be paralytically drunk?
 
Dangerous sections of river should be sign posted where possible, but at the end of the day if you jump into a body of water without knowing the conditions, its not societies responsibility.
 
"One thing connected these three young men who died in the river and that was they were so paralytically drunk they were not in control of their bodies."
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No amount of policing or big signs is going to stop drunken students falling into rivers but maybe the odd talk about responsible drinking may help.
 
Likewise, lived in Bath for 10 years. Didn't fall in once.

Similar quantity have met the same sad and tragic end in Bath over the last year or so. They're talking about railings here.
 
Cosimo said:
No amount of policing or big signs is going to stop drunken students falling into rivers but maybe the odd talk about responsible drinking may help.
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In Newcastle they have a portable medical centre thing sat in town for the people who've had to much drink....
Why are they allowing clubs and bars to get people in to such a state that it's necessary

If they need to have officers along a stretch of river they should start holding the people selling them drink responsible and ensure they foot the costs
 
I'm currently a student at Durham, and imo none of the pathways are 'dangerous'... The danger clearly comes from the alcohol which students imbibe with full knowledge of what it will do to them (at the end of the day a warm bed can be 'dangerous' if you're so smashed that you suffocate on your own vomit). A lot of students don't seem to want to acknowledge this, calling any reference to drink 'victim blaming'.... But the fact remains, binge drinking is a dangerous pastime and people that suggest ways of lowering alcohol consumption have the students' best interests at heart.

However, it is incredibly sad that these people have died, and if some extra railings in certain locations might make the river a bit harder to fall into then I'd definitely support putting them up. (And yes I'll admit that I do sometimes go out and get drunk (sometimes too drunk) and I'm aware that if I walk back by the river on my own (don't know why I would, but alcohol can make you do weird things...) and fall in because I'm drunk then I will probably die).

Some people have commented it's weird how this has only become an issue recently though - 3 students in the past 18 months, and before that I wasn't really aware of it happening at all (at least in Durham)... That is a bit of a mystery to me - I guess for now, random chance is the best explanation.

edit also there was another student that fell in just a week or so after the most recent death, and he'd probably have died too if he hadn't been incredibly fortunate in being observed by a passer-by (not many passers-by at 1am...).
 
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People need to take responsibility for their own actions.

Natural selection should be encouraged, not hindered! If you're too stupid to live then tough.
 
And a fresh update from Bristol docks:

The man discovered unconscious in the water near the Thekla has died in hospital.

It is believed he fell into the freezing water after a night out at the club on Tuesday.
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"He looked like he was in his early 20s, he was face down when I found him, I think the only thing that kept him afloat was his jacket. I thought at the time if he makes it it'll be an absolute miracle because he was in the water for so long, I really hoped he would pull through - as a parent it's a horrible thing to see. My wife couldn't even look."
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http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/Man-wa...ies-night/story-25980162-detail/story.html???
 
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