The riskiest public holidays in the water, particularly when your tipple is topped with alcohol
If the weather is as cool as predicted for New Year’s Day, fatal and non-fatal drowning injuries will decline. If it is hot, it is a very risky day on the beaches.
The riskiest public holidays in the water, particularly when your tipple is topped with alcohol
If you are male, swimming at a beach or a local river on New Year’s Day or Australia Day, and it is heatwave hot, your risk of dying in the water is 22 per cent higher than for women.
Add in a few too many beers, and the danger of a watery death increases even more, says leading water safety expert Dr Amy Peden.
The NSW government warned on Wednesday that New Year’s Day is one of the highest-risk days of the year for coastal incidents and drownings, with tragedies three times more likely than on any other day. “If the sun comes out on New Year’s Day, and swimmers flock to the beach despite the mild weather and celebrate with an alcoholic drink, the risk goes up,” it said a statement.
Joel Haberley, 20, volunteered to have his blood alcohol tested by Amy Peden, RLS’s national manager research and policy, in this file photo.Credit: Julie Power
The Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib said every summer “we see people overestimate their ability and the consequences can be devastating. Most water-related tragedies are preventable, and it only takes one poor decision to change lives forever.”
Peden and others attribute these high-risk days in the water to a toxic combination of public holidays and high alcohol consumption on rivers, lakes and beaches (though officially banned in many public places). If some swimmers were driving, they would have been as much as twice and three times over the safe limit in Australia.
When she tested people swimming and boating in NSW and Queensland rivers, including on Australia Day, for her research, she found 16 per cent of people had been drinking alcohol, with the highest readings nearly 6.5 times higher than the 0.05 legal limit applying to adults driving a car or operating a boat.
The cool weather has brought some relief. Last year, a person fatally drowned every day of summer, including 40 in December. This December, 20 people fatally drowned in the water, the annual summer drowning toll shows.
Risk factors include
- Alcohol: Present at high levels in one in five people who fatally drowned.
- Gender: Eight out of every 10 fatal drownings are male.