How dangerous is diving?

[TMHeimer]

Diving is dangerous. We mitigate by training and diving within the limits of that training. Any answer that says it is not "dangerous" seems to me to be a little odd.

Right to the point. Sharks are dangerous too. Period. How much discussion and comparisons have we had on that?

 

[Token]

Diving isn't dangerous.

Diving without proper attention and respect for the known rules and best practices of safety is dangerous. Diving without proper and understanding of the aquatic environment is dangerous. Diving without proper preparation of mind body and equipment is dangerous. Diving alone is dangerous.

But diving itself...is not dangerous.

IMHO.

 

[CT-Rich]

Diving is dangerous. We mitigate by training and diving within the limits of that training. Any answer that says it is not "dangerous" seems to me to be a little odd.

Driving is dangerous. We mitigate by training and driving within the limits of that training. Any answer that says it is not "dangerous" seems to me to be a little odd.

yep, get a 2000 lb car up 35 mph and your have a massive kinetic energy bomb. Take it up to 70 mph and it now has four times the kinetic energy.... an accident at that speed is almost certainly going to cause serious injury or death. Most of us do it every day, and watching cars fly by at much higher speeds, the risks skyrocket. People do it simply to save five minutes of driving time on a hour long car trip or to make a traffic light.

To say something is simply dangerous isn't really saying much. How does the risk compare to the rewards? What do you do to mitigate the risks?

 

[The Chairman]

What do you do to mitigate the risks?

Slow down! But then, I live in Paradise, so there's no rush to get here.

 

[beaverdivers]

Slow down! But then, I live in Paradise, so there's no rush to get here.

Pete,

Is it Snowing there?

We are gearing up for ski season. Snow is on our peaks!

Are the risks worth it ( for diving or skiing )?

Absolutely!

 

[The Chairman]

Is it Snowing there?

No, I live SOUTH of Miami!

h:

 

[dadediver]

With the proper training and attention to your diving it is probably a lot less dangerous than what I face driving the freeways of Los Angeles. Although I have done many dives that some might consider "technical" and "dangerous," most of my diving is very safe and relaxing.

This is exactly what I am talking about. It only takes one "consider dangerous" dive that kills you. It isnt alway those "relaxing" dives that kills you.

Diving is Dangerous.

---------- Post Merged at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:12 PM ----------

Id say as long as you dive within your limits and training. (Or experience) then its as safe as walking down the street. All too often we see people go diving in conditions they are not yet prepared for. Such as diving deep just right out of Open Water or night diving without understanding the needs of it and what to expect.

All in all though you kind of have to compare it to driving a car. Once you pretty much well get used to it then its second nature and youll find yourself doing it all the time. But one mistake can leave you paralyzed or even dead. But as long as you pay attention to whats going on around you and monitor your air and NDL you are pretty much guaranteed to be safe!

We call this complancency and that can be fatal.

---------- Post Merged at 12:20 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 12:12 PM ----------

Diving isn't dangerous.

Diving without proper attention and respect for the known rules and best practices of safety is dangerous. Diving without proper and understanding of the aquatic environment is dangerous. Diving without proper preparation of mind body and equipment is dangerous. Diving alone is dangerous.

But diving itself...is not dangerous.

IMHO.

You have 50 dives and you say diving isnt dangerous? And then you say Solo diving is dangerous?

Loose a buddy or two in diving accidents and start solo diving and then come back and post your opinion.

 

[BDSC]

But back to my original question - how dangerous is diving?

I did not read every post on this thread so this may have already been covered. I looked up the definition of "dangerous" and found the following:

dangerous - Likely to harm or kill someone, or to damage or destroy something. Likely to have a bad effect or to cause a problem.

I saw another definition that was close to this but used the word "able" instead of "likely". I think the word likely is more appropriate however. So going by the above definition, I'd say diving is not dangerous at all because I don't think, in general, people that dive are likely to have harm come to them.

 

[spoolin01]

Diving within rec limits strikes me as considerably less dangerous than many or maybe most other rec activities. One clear difference in favor of diving is that there's not much danger from the actions or inactions of others when I dive. More directly, there are only a couple of fatality or serious injury risks uniquely related to open circuit SCUBA underwater, which are pretty easy to minimize while still diving fun, fascinating, and diverse locales. You can certainly make it more dangerous by choice of conditions, equipment, and profiles - and some of judgement in those regards probably only comes about through experience, meaning surviving danger. Yet I don't find that my pursuit of experience or fun draw me all that much in the direction of those dangers, so for myself at least I think it's fair to say diving isn't so dangerous, relative to other outdoor activities.

I've never jumped out of a plane in a squirrel suit - though it looks amazingly, terrifyingly, FUN - but I don't consider it proof that jumping for the fun of free-fall is dangerous.

 

[vladimir]

I did not read every post on this thread so this may have already been covered. I looked up the definition of "dangerous" and found the following:

dangerous - Likely to harm or kill someone, or to damage or destroy something. Likely to have a bad effect or to cause a problem.

I saw another definition that was close to this but used the word "able" instead of "likely". I think the word likely is more appropriate however. So going by the above definition, I'd say diving is not dangerous at all because I don't think, in general, people that dive are likely to have harm come to them.

When you form the phrase "how dangerous?" you explicitly ask where along the continuum of risk does it lie. (How: to what extent, degree, etc.) It can no longer be correctly interpreted as a yes/no question. If you do go back through the thread I think you'll find that very few responders took a stab at the actual question.