Is it safe to cross a street?It is becoming evident to me that as diving becomes more advanced (risky), opinion about the risks involved varies, even between agencies. That being the case, it is up to the diver to understand the risks and make sensible choices.
Are we talking about a multi-lane freeway, or are we talking about a crosswalk with a traffic light and walk signal? One is near suicide, and the other is very safe. On the other hand, people have been killed crossing with the proper signal in even well controlled crosswalks. All it takes is a drunk driver, or a driver falling asleep at the wheel. Since we know it is possible to be killed in even the most well controlled crosswalk, does it mean we will never cross a street?
The area in front of the hotel I have used several times in Cozumel has an arch about 6-7 feet under water, and even the weakest snorkelers like to take a breath and swim through it. For a brief moment, they are in an overhead environment. Should it be off limits to divers who do not have overhead training?
The problem is we use the term "overhead environment" to cover a wide variety of situations, from the most benign to the most threatening. Yes, it is possible for something to go wrong in a simple swim through such as was described by the OP, just as it is possible to get hit by a drunk while crossing a normally safe intersection. It would not bother me to see an OW diver decide that such a risk is reasonable and go through, as happens hundreds of times a day in Cozumel. It would bother me very much to see the same diver enter the cavern in Twin Cave in Marianna the way the girl who almost died there in 2012 did. They are two very different environments, all under the same umbrella label of "overhead."
That is why I don't like the term. People are warned not to go into overhead environments without proper training, then they go through the ones described in the OP routinely and say, "Hey, overheads are no big deal." The girl mentioned above charged into the pretty safe cavern in Jackson Blue cave the day before she charged into Twin and almost died. They were both caverns. They were both overhead environments. She had shown she could do overhead environments, hadn't she?
I have a draft of an article on my computer that calls for a rating system for overheads so that people can get some assistance in knowing their degree of difficulty. It is similar to the system used to define the difficulty of ski slopes and rock climbing routes. I have had it for about a year. I haven't had the courage to publish it because I haven't quite worked up the courage to endure the flames that will follow.