The Scuba death rate...

[H2Andy]

yeah my math sucks ...

it is about 2.2 per 10,000, thank you

so ...

1 in 10,000 for diving
2.2 per 10,000 in driving
67 in 10,000 for military fatalities

 

[verybaddiver]

i make it as 66 death and someone 2 3rds dead :]. maybe like quadriplegic or something, but still breathing :]

 

[vondo]

i make it as 66 death and someone 2 3rds dead :]. maybe like quadriplegic or something, but still breathing :]

Funny. Not.

 

[nereas]

yeah my math sucks ...

it is about 2.2 per 10,000, thank you

so ...

1 in 10,000 for diving
2.2 per 10,000 in driving
67 in 10,000 for military fatalities

If you are trying to get at what activities are the most dangerous, there is an old list from Failure Analysis Inc., which I googled but could not find, that goes something like this:

1) skydiving
2) private aviation
3) motorcycling on-road
4) car and boat racing
5) scuba
6) swimming
7) snowmobiling
8) passenger automobiles
9) commercial aviation
10) residential fires

I cannot vouch for the exact order of these, but I do recall that passenger automobiles was fairly safe compared to some of the others, and that scuba is quite high overall and just ahead of swimming.

They [Failure Analysis Inc.] determined "dangerous" as number of deaths per hours of activity engaged in.

Military operations depend on the time and place. During peacetime is quite different than during war.

 

[Loneranger]

As mentioned earlier most accidents and incidents result from inexperienced individuals, but I have noticed that the very experienced are involved in a fair amout trying to push the tech envolope as well.

 

[shellbackdiver1]

I would like to mention that there are alot of accidents and deaths that happen in Asia that are not reported. I can name a few here in Taiwan that have not made it to this board.

~ Two years ago student diver tangled in fishing net at Sand Island Taiwan. Instructor left to get more air and upon his return 1 hour later the diver was found dead.

~ Two years ago student and instructor made a risky dive together to see the hammerheads at Green Island, Taiwan. Descended and a few minutes later surfaced and were seen talking. They again descended and were never seen from again.

~ Man and wife go diving prior to Typhoon in Kending Taiwan from the shore. Never seen from again. Possible suicide.

The point is that the statistics are based upon what is reported.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Statistics doesn't mean anything unless you first ask a question and then gather data and crunch the numbers such that the specific question is answered. Trying to use the data we have to determin the probability that an individual diver will be killed diving isn't going to work because there are just to many variables. We can try to compare populations of divers with similar training or similar amounts of experience or whatever but somehow you need to get a handle on some of the vaiables. Not all divers are equal and they don't have an equal probability of injury while diving. If you don't, you are just counting as apposed to calculating probability.

Given the data, probably the best we can do with it is to avoid looking like some of the divers who get hurt the most. A large percentage of them are divers with little training and/or recent experience with poor skills. Be a good diver and excersize good judgement and the probability of you having an accident will be much lower than for a lot of other divers.

Comparing diving to activities like driving is just as silly. I just can't figure out a way to conduct the trade that supports my household without driving my work truck on the Chicago area toll roads. Those toll roads are a very dangerous place and I avoid them whenever I can but I can't avoid them all the time. Being a good driver makes it a little safer but but lousy drivers sometimes run over good drivers anyway. Knowing what my risk is would be nice but I still have to go to work. By contrast, I don't ever have to go scuba diving.

 

[fisherdvm]

Actually, marriage is a very dangerous sport. Most men I know who got married, eventually died.

 

[shellbackdiver1]

Actually, marriage is a very dangerous sport. Most men I know who got married, eventually died.

That's it...not getting married. Way to too risky for me.

 

[ItsBruce]

That's not the primary reason why people die, but is likely contributory. The majority of people die because they panic and are incapable of performing actions that they had no problem doing when they were in the pool, something as simple as ditching weights, sticking their regulator in their mouth or making a controlled ascent with air in their tank.

For a more concrete example that does not end in death as it so often does in diving, consider a baseball player, and more specifically a first baseman who has just been moved to the majors. The balls aren't hit any significantly harder or thrown any significantly faster, but he will not perform nearly as well with the lights, the crowd and a big-name player at bat.

A big part of being safe is having one's skills so well drilled that they are performed without thought. That way when panic takes over, you perform the skill by reflex.