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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-53570487
Parents of child who fell over waterfall they were visiting complain that there were no warning signs telling them there was a waterfall there.
Yes, clearly a few extra warning signs could have stopped this near-tragedy. Hope the council have learned from this and are deploying thousands of warning signs to cover every uneven bit of ground in the countryside.
If they werent paying attention to their kid at the top of the cliff.. how would they even notice a warning sign?
so signs, a fence, and the fact that it's a bloody great waterfall isn't enough?
I'm very pleased that the young girl wasn't seriously injured on the fall itself and that she didn't have any further problems in the pool below, as it can be a very dangerous waterfall, but it makes for quite scary reading that people don't understand that there are real risks in the outdoors, and its not all beautifully maintained and safe.
It's been a few years since I was up there, but there used to be signs advising of the area being dangerous and that it can be slippery. It's also fairly obvious that you're close to a drop given the horizon lines and view of the tops of tall trees in front of you, and it's marked on the signs and the maps.
Giant cliff with water falling down it is a pretty decent warning sign.
I noted this one with bemusement/amusement too. Can society not just accept that accidents happen?
Why must someone else always be to blame?
Why must someone else always be to blame
because they don't want to accept they are to blame also?
Maybe the BBC should have used a different headline.
Parents were in terror after discovering that their poor parenting and risk assessment skills had almost caused the death of their child.They immediately tried to shift the blame for the tragic accident away from themselves and on to someone else, with a bit of spin they may even make some money from the incident.
Lucky girl.
Was a 10 year old killed recently in a building site in Glasgow, nearly 10pm, climbed under the security fence and fell in an excavation, his wee sister saw it, god knows what age she was. Much gnashing of teeth about lack of security at the building site, tiptoeing round the fact a very young child was marauding about with no thought of supervision.
On a related note, there are lots of these sorts of articles appearing in local newspapers in Cumbria, Derbyshire, Wales and Scotland:
Ooh look, lockdown eased, the stupid people are out again.
Why must someone else always be to blame?
Usually someone is to blame. In this case it is a combination of the parents (not supervising well) and the child (not negotiating terrain very well)
Nasty. Thank goodness she's ok.
I've kayaked the falls below that, but that drop is crazy stout.
Some kayakers did it in the late eighties. 7 minutes in, in this retro film.
https://m.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150625210975481
See I'm sitting wondering if I would let my kids potter by a pool like that. I think I might with an awareness of the risk but the probability of an accident low. But then my kids have grown up playing in wild places. Then would I feel "blame" if the worst happened? Hmmm.
I'll say this once and only once 'selection of the fitest'. Equally i don't think rubberised oven shelf strips should exist that prevent burns from the oven shelf, selection of the fitest!
Sounds like a wild ride for the little'un. You don't get those kind of thrills at the theme park.
I’ll say this once and only once ‘selection of the fitest’. Equally i don’t think rubberised oven shelf strips should exist that prevent burns from the oven shelf, selection of the fitest!
Bizarre, so we should take the fence and signs away then? And I thought you were only gonna say it once? lol!
Not so lucky for this wee girl
I get the sense that because of lockdown with the usual indoor places and holiday destinations not being available, there are now more people that wouldn't normally head outdoors just giving it a go. On one hand you can understand the need to get out after lockdown , but the rescue services are going to be stretched .
I cycled past a team putting down yellow lines on a country road, I thought “That’s a bit weird doing that out here” Turns out it was because of ..
This
We are currently building a pumptrack (I may have mentioned it) and although it is fenced in with signs saying to keep out, all gates are padlocked, the contractor is making sure there are no open pits, trenches or ducting, all machinery is tucked away and there is nothing on the track that is under construction. We've been told any injuries suffered may well lead to legal action against us.
That's what happens when people more akin going to shopping centres go to the real outside world, I blame Covid (and Bozo)
They're probably after compo.
I’ll say this once and only once ‘selection of the fitest’.
Just in case you do say it again, and let's hope you don't - it is "survival" not "selection" and "fittest" not "fitest".
With regard to the kayaking video above, when the fall was first run, 3 out of the 4 ended up in hospital (broken ribs, spinal compression). The slab that comes down just before halfway along the big fall kicks you out from the main slide leaving you to freefall into the pool below (Shaun and team were using relatively short boats that landed flat on the less aerated water, resulting in the damage to their backs even with spinal supports and neck braces.) It tends to be run at reasonably low levels otherwise there is much greater risk that the water will trap you in the pool/undercut.
As far as I know, it's still only been kayaked a small number of times (probably less than 20 people).
Wet grass is slippy. FFS. Glad the girl is OK, but it's damned obvious there is a waterfall there.
Snowdonian Rangers are tweeting loads about the increased stupidity and crazy parking in the area.
I'm afraid more of this is going to happen at the moment as people not used to doing stuff in the real 'outside' venture away from foreign beaches and pools - it like that family with the St Bernard that needed rescuing - had that dog walked in that terrain for that long before - poor dog.
I'm awaiting a family deciding to do a black run at a trial centre on BSO's.
This is why we can't have nice things.
I’m awaiting a family deciding to do a black run at a trial centre on BSO’s.
And getting it shut as a result.
I cycled past a team putting down yellow lines on a country road, I thought “That’s a bit weird doing that out here” Turns out it was because of ..
Farmer that owns the field beside the official parking spot should get his act together, a few hundred people paying £5 to park a day 😀
it like that family with the St Bernard that needed rescuing – had that dog walked in that terrain for that long before – poor dog.
On the upside, that picture of the doggo being stretchered off the hill made thousands of people smile and gave the MRT members a fantastic story to dine out on for the future.
🤷🏻♂️
The trouble is when stuff like this gets enough press/traction then fun/nice places to visit, if you just exercise a bit of common sense, get closed down/banned.
I like it that she is there bouncing away on a trampoline, which are know to have disproportionate risk of breaking limbs. I guess that will be someone else’s fault too.
Maybe the little girl will realise her talent and grow up to be a cliff diver ?
Maybe the land owner could sue for trespass in return, bet theres no direct right of access.
Some people need to just stay indoors (comment aimed at the parents of course).
It reminds me of the guy that wrote on trip advisor Ben Nevis was too high and steep with no facilities at the top ie cafe toilets etc , he had the brass neck to give it only one star
Parents were in terror after discovering that their poor parenting and risk assessment skills had almost caused the death of their child.They immediately tried to shift the blame for the tragic accident away from themselves and on to someone else, with a bit of spin they may even make some money from the incident.
+1
The trouble is when stuff like this gets enough press/traction then fun/nice places to visit, if you just exercise a bit of common sense, get closed down/banned.
What nice places have been closed then?
Never underestimate the level of moron and arsehole (not mutually exclusive) in this country. While not the majority they're not far behind.
Trouble is they're not on their "all-inclusivs bruv" where they go to mate with each other and further the brain dead legacy.
They should take out the waterfall and replace with a nice set of stairs (double bannister) and a lift for the lazy people. How dare nature be dangerous and unforgiving.
The hacks who wrote this will have very nicely but cynically led the parents to criticise safety measures to get full value out of the story.
The trouble is when stuff like this gets enough press/traction then fun/nice places to visit, if you just exercise a bit of common sense, get closed down/banned.
TBH round my neck of the woods they seem to do it to stop people shiiteing everywhere 🙁
The hacks who wrote this will have very nicely but cynically led the parents to criticise safety measures to get full value out of the story.
Add a former hack, I don't deny such things happen.
But experience tells me it's far more likely the parents were just keen to point the finger at anything but themselves.
Farmer that owns the field beside the official parking spot should get his act together, a few hundred people paying £5 to park a day 😀
You seriously think the sort of jackass who’ll block narrow lanes will be prepared to pay to park?
From the photo, the only way the child could fall is by climbing through a well designed fence, which means, obviously, the parents weren’t watching her, so any responsibilities for her accident are entirely theirs.
This sort of abrogation of personal responsibility drives me nuts! It’s always ‘someone else’s fault! Someone has to pay!’. I see it happen every year on the stretch of beach from Burnham-on-Sea to Brean, on the Bristol Channel. It has the second highest tidal rise and fall in the world! The tide goes out a mile, and runs at around 3 mph, and there are large stretches of very thick and deep mud, often covered with a thin film of sand, and it’s very dangerous. There are big signs at every access to the beach, which is nearly seven miles long, saying ‘WARNING Soft sand and mud, danger of sinking’, yet time and time again stupid halfwits go ‘ooh, look, there’s the sea out there, let’s walk out to it’, or ‘let’s drive our car out towards the sea!’, with the same predictable results - the volunteers of BARB (Burnham Area Rescue Boats) will have to go out in their hovercraft to rescue their sorry asses!
The hovercraft were bought by public donations after a five year old girl got stuck in the mud, and drowned while rescuers were trying to get to her across the mudflats using duckboards - a horrifying and tragic loss of a young child’s life.
But thanks to that tragedy, getting on towards twenty years ago, there’s been no further loss of life, but no thanks to the idiocy of the visitors every year who ignore things out there for their safety.
I despair, I really do. 🙁
What nice places have been closed then?
The Blue Lake Gwynedd is one though more due to thoughtless littering than accidents in the pool (though there have been some) we were there before it was blocked, someone told us of this 'secret' lake but everyone seemed to already know about it!
Classic case similar to Tomlinson vs congleton. Luckily the precedent has already been set that landowners don’t need warning signs at obvious natural hazards to discharge their duty of care.
Echoing everything thats been said above but why must an accident always be someone elses fault for some people? How many visit those waterfalls annually? How many people fall down them? If you can't look after your kids near the top of a waterfall maybe you're not fit to be a parent?
Hoping once Covid is done with, these stupid people who venture outside the ring roads of major cities once a year go back to being spread out over 365 days instead of a mass rush of stupid people into the countryside all at once.
Accidents happen to intelligent people too. Parents know you need eyes in the back of your head with kids. But sure keep on bleating on about how stupid people are if it makes you feel better.
I mean, what's the solution to all these stupid people, would you like a culling perhaps?
****s sake, didn't know they'd had to closed the Blue Lake, due to asshats.
As for these parents, again just more asshats
Accidents happen to intelligent people too.
Yep, but it is not to do with intelligence it is to do with looking to blame someone/something else instead of just accepting that the correct care was not taken.
I mean, what’s the solution to all these stupid people, would you like a culling perhaps?
I share your (presumed) distaste for the general "get these idiots out of the countryside" vibe we're seeing in recent months.
Outdoor recreation is predominantly a middle-class thing, so it's almost like we don't want "the wrong sort of people" doing it.
There's been a bit of a failure on the part of NPAs and similar to pivot from "stay out of the Lakes" (just to pick a not entirely random example) to "here's how to visit safely, where to park etc".
sirromj
Accidents happen to intelligent people too. Parents know you need eyes in the back of your head with kids. But sure keep on bleating on about how stupid people are if it makes you feel better
I've had one of my kids fall off the scramble route of Schehallion. He was rushing past a brother, slipped and slipped/rolled about 4m down onto a ledge. He ended up half on the ledge, both legs over the edge with a significantly bigger drop. I rescued the lad, then spent a few hours over the next few days alternating between remonstrating with myself, telling him how close he had been, thinking how I would do things differently in future, and thinking 'but that's the risk we choose to take'.
My issue with the parents in this story is that they immediately went back to seek blame elsewhere and clearly approached the press. I suggest this is at the cost of not learning from any mistakes through denying thier own responsibility. I also suggest that stories like this further the risk-averse and blame culture so many folk seem to take.
Good risk management goes beyond a system (more signs = problem solved) and becomes a cultural thing we all engage in and have skills in.
I don't think they are stupid, I think they've not had the education and experiences they need.
As someone involved in outdoor learning, I'm soul searching at the moment about a few issues. Risk aversion / lack of skills and the dirty campers we are seeing around the country. I feel that the learning an experiences they've had have failed them - and want to work out what I do differently to get a different outcome.
I hope that this family continue to head outdoors, it's great for them and the child. Sadly reading between the lines this may put them off - despite their children facing much more likely and impactful risks.
Related, it's worth a read of this book.
I guess I just feel more sympathetic toward the parents that most of the posters on here. Maybe giving them too much benefit of the doubt. I expect it was an intense & emotional experience, maybe they just reacted and the advise was to take the route they took. I don't think it's too difficult to imagine after an experience such as this not wanting it to happen to another child.
That book is available as a PDF btw: https://rethinkingchildhood.com/no-fear/
I'll have a look at it, ta.
Went to the Blue lake a few years ago, before I became a parent. Scary place for a non swimmer! Didn't think the water was safe to swim in due to algae?
Parents know you need eyes in the back of your head with kids.
Humans don't actually have eyes in the back of their heads, though.
That is why the parents should have been watching closely and probably have the kid within reach and always be making sure they were between the kid and the water. Even more so if she is what chavs tend call 'spirited'.
This stuff is not difficult.