# Lesson learned the hard way, wear a life vest
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [August 11, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973 "2010-08-11T20:32:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/21 "2010-08-12T05:09:59Z")
It’s the same damned story, every damned summer - people die while boating or floating because they won’t wear life jackets. I’m starting to run out of sympathy for this - who doesn’t know at this point that you can die from this?
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/22 "2010-08-12T12:14:07Z")
Life vests are important, yes, but I’m aghast that adults don’t know how to swim! IMO, it’s one of those essential things parents should teach their kids – and as young as possible.
This past weekend, my husband spent 45 minutes in a pool trying to teach another couple’s kid to swim because they were too lazy to do it themselves. They just pulled swimmies on his arm and expected the other kids to make sure he didn’t drown. He’s 4 years old and old enough to know, at a minimum, how to tread water, especially since they frequently visit his uncle who has a swimming pool. But they just sat and ate while my husband repeatedly showed him how to blow bubbles and paddle to the side.
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/23 "2010-08-12T12:19:06Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> Life vests are important, yes, but I’m aghast that adults don’t know how to swim! IMO, it’s one of those essential things parents should teach their kids – and as young as possible.
I think it’s forgivable – as long as you never plan on being near water.
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### Author:  [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/24 "2010-08-12T12:29:08Z")
I feel so sorry for those poor kids.
> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> Life vests are important, yes, but I’m aghast that adults don’t know how to swim! IMO, it’s one of those essential things parents should teach their kids – and as young as possible.
I don’t know how to swim, and my parents had a cabin on a lake, and a joint vacation home at the Ozarks. We had a motorboat and a pontoon. No one ever showed me how to swim, though I can float on my back. It’s amazing I ever made it out of childhood alive.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/25 "2010-08-12T12:53:21Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> The order is; Reach, Throw, Row, Go. Reach for them from safety, throw them a rope, row a watercraft to them, and finally, go yourself. Never jump in the water until the other three options have been exhausted.
“Row a watercraft to them”??? If only these guys had had a boat!
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### Author:  [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/26 "2010-08-12T12:55:10Z")
> [@Tinkertoy](#):
>
> …
> If you push someone who can’t swim out of the boat and have to jump in to save them wear your fucking life vest. …
My take on that: Don’t push someone out of a boat period.
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### Author:  [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/27 "2010-08-12T13:30:30Z")
> [@Equipoise](#):
>
> **Lesson learned the hard way…**
>
> [Different story](http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7598633), but another tip, don’t everyone jump in the water at the same time to go swimming. Boats float. Away.
See also the horror movie “[Open water 2](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0470055/)” (haven’t watched it myself, but the description is about “Don’t jump into calm water from a yacht if the ladder is not down.”
This would add tip nr. 3: [Always, always count twice if everybody is on board](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0374102/) before driving away. (Based on a real-life event). And yes, the movie, though low-budget, is very horryfing…
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### Author:  [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/28 "2010-08-12T15:29:53Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> I think it’s forgivable – as long as you never plan on being near water.
Serioulsy, how many people are NEVER near water that is over their heads, in their entire lifetime? Swimming, IMO, is as essential as knowing basic lifesaving techniques, such as the Heimlich maneuver and stop, drop and roll, IMO.
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### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/29 "2010-08-12T16:19:21Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> > [@Ludovic](#):
> >
> > I think it’s forgivable – as long as you never plan on being near water.
>
> Serioulsy, how many people are NEVER near water that is over their heads, in their entire lifetime? Swimming, IMO, is as essential as knowing basic lifesaving techniques, such as the Heimlich maneuver and stop, drop and roll, IMO.
I think that’s what he was getting at, like saying “I don’t think you have to learn to cook - so long as you never plan to eat.”
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/30 "2010-08-12T16:38:33Z")
Reminds me of one of my favourite PSAs on the subject. It’s a simple shot of two very young kids sitting quietly in a canoe, wearing life jackets.
Narrator: You know how important water safety is, and you always make sure your kids have their life jackets on. But what about you? [camera pans back, shows canoe is completely isolated, and over the side some air bubbles float to the surface] Yeah… they didn’t need you, anyway.
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### Author:  [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/31 "2010-08-12T17:59:46Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#):
>
> > [@PunditLisa](#):
> >
> > Serioulsy, how many people are NEVER near water that is over their heads, in their entire lifetime? Swimming, IMO, is as essential as knowing basic lifesaving techniques, such as the Heimlich maneuver and stop, drop and roll, IMO.
>
> I think that’s what he was getting at, like saying “I don’t think you have to learn to cook - so long as you never plan to eat.”
Not quite. If you find yourself without the survival skill of knowing how to cook at least there’s restaurants, convenience food at the grocery store and/or Aunt Martha down the street to mooch off of if you’re desparate. If you don’t have the survival skill of knowing how to swim and suddenly find yourself in need, there’s no way to order/buy/mooch your way out of that one.
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### Author:  [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/32 "2010-08-13T00:52:04Z")
The second and third guys to jump in the water must have had a special kind of stupid. (That, or it seemed like a good idea at the time because they were drunk) One of your buddies is flailing around in the water. A second buddy has jumped in to rescue Buddy 1, and now Buddy 1 and Buddy 2 are flailing around in the water. Most of us, at this point, would figure that jumping in the water to save Buddy 1 didn’t work, and that it was time to think of something else to do.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/33 "2010-08-13T00:56:43Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#):
>
> Depending on what kind of water I’m in on a boat, I might not wear a life jacket, but I’m a good swimmer. But how in God’s name do you not wear a life vest if you know _you cannot swim_?
>
> How awful for the kids to see that.
I used to be annoyed that my parents would make me wear a life jacked when I went on my grandpa’s boat. I was a good swimmer (at the time). I tried to explain that even if I fell off the boat I could certainly make it back to shore (or a dock) without a problem or tread water for as long as it took to get me back on the boat. Then she explained that even the strongest swimmers will still drown if something happens that they get hurt or knocked out when they fall in. That always stuck with me.
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/34 "2010-08-13T01:07:02Z")
From the Idaho State Journal story:
> [@](#):
>
> Jeffries said the investigation is still ongoing but at this point officials believe one of the men jokingly pushed another into the water. When that person began struggling, one of the other men jumped into the water to try to save him but he also started struggling. The scenario repeated itself as the third and fourth men also tried to save the others.
Wasn’t this a _Family Guy_ episode?
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/35 "2010-08-13T01:09:05Z")
> [@lieu](#):
>
> I couldn’t believe what I was reading earlier; 5 kids go out with 4 adults so the kids ought to be in good hands, right? So how come it’s only the 5 kids that make it back?
Without reading the link, I’m going to guess that the OP needs to add a further bullet point of, “Don’t drink and swim.”
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/36 "2010-08-13T01:10:47Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> From the Idaho State Journal story:
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Jeffries said the investigation is still ongoing but at this point officials believe one of the men jokingly pushed another into the water. When that person began struggling, one of the other men jumped into the water to try to save him but he also started struggling. The scenario repeated itself as the third and fourth men also tried to save the others.
>
> Wasn’t this a _Family Guy_ episode?
It reminded me of a crane accident
> **[Crane Accident](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/a-series-of-unfortunate-events/)**
>
> Do photographs show a series of cranes falling into the water while attempting to retrieve a submerged automobile?
(If you haven’t seen this before, scroll down one picture at a time so you can really take in how many things had to go wrong here).
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### Author:  [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/37 "2010-08-13T03:06:40Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#):
>
> > [@lieu](#):
> >
> > I couldn’t believe what I was reading earlier; 5 kids go out with 4 adults so the kids ought to be in good hands, right? So how come it’s only the 5 kids that make it back?
>
> Without reading the link, I’m going to guess that the OP needs to add a further bullet point of, “Don’t drink and swim.”
It appears from what the police are saying that none of the beer that was taken had been consumed yet.
All of the guys but the first could swim but panic makes even a strong swimmer helpless. I can’t remember one summer in the 35 years I’ve lived here that someone didn’t die needlessly on the reservoir or river below it. Most of the time because they ignored the posted signs and acted like nature didn’t apply to them.
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### Author:  [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/38 "2010-08-13T03:50:38Z")
Procreation really should be more difficult. Any moron can figure out insert tab A into slot B.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/39 "2010-08-13T03:58:01Z")
There was an ad on TV quite some time ago that showed some adults in a boat with no PFDs on. I’m not sure what the product was. I sent an email to the company and told them I thought that this was a very poor image, considering the huge number of drowning deaths in this country every year. The response was along the lines of “the men in the ad were excellent swimmers and were in no danger at any time.” :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lesson-learned-the-hard-way-wear-a-life-vest/549973/40 "2010-08-13T04:04:54Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#):
>
> > [@Ludovic](#):
> >
> > I think it’s forgivable – as long as you never plan on being near water.
>
> Serioulsy, how many people are NEVER near water that is over their heads, in their entire lifetime? Swimming, IMO, is as essential as knowing basic lifesaving techniques, such as the Heimlich maneuver and stop, drop and roll, IMO.
Not everybody has access to a pool or a pretty lake. Or to somebody willing to give them swimming lessons. Most schools do _not_ have swimming pools.
I can swim OK in a pool but would _never_ go out in a small boat without a life vest.
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