Scuba Diving: One of the most dangerous activities in the world?

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"News reoprt" aside, I am an equestrian and I can say without a doubt equestrian sports are far more dangerous than diving. You can not find an equestrian who has not been laid up, sent to the ER, or has gnarly scars/bruises/et cetera from some kind of injury. Sprains, strains, and automobiles are among the more benign injuries. Ask about the broken limbs, broken spines, and head traumas from falls. I have had all of those and I was far from a "crazy" rider.
 
"News reoprt" aside, I am an equestrian and I can say without a doubt equestrian sports are far more dangerous than diving. You can not find an equestrian who has not been laid up, sent to the ER, or has gnarly scars/bruises/et cetera from some kind of injury. Sprains, strains, and automobiles are among the more benign injuries. Ask about the broken limbs, broken spines, and head traumas from falls. I have had all of those and I was far from a "crazy" rider.
The thing with diving is that unlike many sports where there a few deaths but lots of injuries (I did a little rodeo, so I know), in diving the ratio between injuries to deaths is very low. I'm still alive,after more than 10,000 dives, I've never been hospitalized due to something that happened whilst diving, I've needed stitches twice, but most of it has been little more than an amplification of every day aches and pains. Thus I not sure that your comparison really works.
 
Still alive after more than 10,000 dives so then diving must be safe. :)
 
No, it's just that I know how to minimize risk.:D
 
No, it's just that I know how to minimize risk.:D

or it's just not been "your" time... people do get bent for no apparent reason sometimes :D
 
The thing with diving is that unlike many sports where there a few deaths but lots of injuries (I did a little rodeo, so I know), in diving the ratio between injuries to deaths is very low. I'm still alive,after more than 10,000 dives, I've never been hospitalized due to something that happened whilst diving, I've needed stitches twice, but most of it has been little more than an amplification of every day aches and pains. Thus I not sure that your comparison really works.

This is true, but both sports can very, very dangerous for the untrained or unskilled along with "risky" for even the highly trained. There is also a fairly high mortality rate in equestrian sports along with the high injury rate. It's not a super-high mortality rate as you know, but still, I feel coupled with the high injury rate, it pushes the "risky sport" factor a little higher and I think that's the comparison I was going for. Apples to oranges, I know, but close enough. At least they are both fruit, right? :wink:
 
I'm reminded of the occasional article commenting on how peoples' fears don't match up well with reality; for example, that your bathroom is more likely to kill you by far than lightening or a shark attack.

I think one of the reasons we do these comparisons of different sports is that we really have no even rough consensus on what level of risk is acceptable.

If scuba diving had a death or serious injury rate of 1 on x dives, what would x have to be for the risk to be broadly unacceptable to the general public?

You'd think with some of the extreme sports, and violent sports like boxing and other combat sports, that there'd be some rough guideline out there somewhere.

Richard.

P.S.: I've ridden horses with no serious injuries. My Dad (a better horseman with a lot more experience) was laid up quite awhile due to some sort of 'horsing accident' when he was a kid, and my Mother got banged up when a horse loping or running abruptly stopped she sort of went skipping up the road (Mom really ain't built for being skipped). I had a supervisor many years ago who'd had a broken back horse riding (though he was back on his feet and working; don't know whether there was a lasting effect).
 

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