what's with the rash of bad judgement at natural attractions?

[eliza61]

A young women died today at Niagra Falls after she climbed over the railing to sit on a boulder (for God knows what reason).

This after 3 young adults died after climbing into a fast moving stream in Yosimite this summer to get a better picture.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-swept-over-niagara-falls-presumed-drowned-113607048.html

So sad.

 

[MEK]

That's very tragic. It just shows how something seemingly safe can turn into a tragedy. Well what I mean is she shouldn't have been sitting on the rail, but to her it looked like a safe action. That's why the rail is there. I feel sorry for her parents. It must be terrible to lose a child under those circumstances. Just a momentary lack of judgment and the result is fatal.

 

[hambirg]

Yeah, it's sad.

It's not uncommon here to hear about someone falling to their death after climbing over the railing at Snoqualmie Falls to get a better look. I don't get it. I'm one of those people that stands a few feet back because I don't even like standing next to the railing.

 

[pigletgirl]

People do the same in the Grand Canyon as well. Do people think they're immortal or something? The warnings are there for a reason!

 

[lilosurf11]

Do people just like leave their brains at home?

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Similarly the lap bars that were installed in the logs at Splash Mountain were not intended to make the attraction safer; they were intended to work toward idiot-proofing the attraction.

 

[Andtototoo]

Stupidity is a vastly underrated causal factor in human behavior.

 

[plutotek]

It's called 'culling the herd'.

 

[lovesmurfs]

It's called 'culling the herd'.

Yep -- or "chlorinating the gene pool," to quote The Onion.

 

[Geoff_M]

Call it "natural selection at work..."

It also reminds of one of my favorite quotes:

"The two most common substances in the Universe are hydrogen and stupidity... and not necessarily in that order!" - Harlan Ellison

 

[laurie31]

I think it goes along with the "rules don't apply to me" mentality that's so prevalent today.

People equate those safety railings and warnings not to cross with "no cell phone" signs, hospital visiting hours, and moving all the way to the end of a row in Disney attractions.

We saw some terrifying feats of stupidity when we took our kids to Yellowstone. We had MANY discussions about the thermal features and how you HAD to stay on the path or you could be killed. We saw one idiot CLIMBING on the terraces at Mammoth and I literallly covered my kids' eyes fearing we were about to see someone burned to death.

On the same day, we were fortunate enough to see a grizzly bear. We joined a fair-sized group of people watching it from the side of the road. Then this couple came up, got out, opened their cooler, and SAT DOWN TO EAT. RIGHT THERE WITH THE BEAR!!! OMG!!! We hastily decided we had seen enough of the bear and moved on.

Both of these stupid acts COULD have resulted in fatalities but didn't.

We have also been to Yosemite, and hiked to those falls where the people died. Seriously, I barely dared to get up to the railing for a photo, it was obvious that crossing over it would be fool-hardly, and to get INTO the water? Right above a 300' drop?? Boggles the mind. It does make me sad to think of what their last moments were like but DANG? Why would they do something so stupid?!

 

[LindaG4458]

We've had several incidents here in the White Mountains this year. In one, three people were swept over falls after climbing over a fence. The first slipped, the others tried to rescue him. The bodies were found a couple days later.

Leaf Peeper season is coming; there will be more incidents.

 

[Arielle22]

When I was growing up we visited Niagara Falls every year. Over the years I have heard many stories of people accidentally (and not so accidentally) dying.

I remember when DD18 was about a year old we visited again. About a week before our visit a mom leaned over a railing and dropped her infant into the falls. The baby was never found and presumed drowned. I had DD in a snugglie on my chest during our visit and I was still too nervous to get close to the railing.

 

[HillPete]

OK, we were there yesterday (we left for home around 3 PM) and I was a nervous wreck worrying about my DSs and their interest in climbing railings. I was glad to see that most of the railings are a good distance away from the edge. She must have been leaning waaaaaay over if she hit the water. I feel terrible for her family and the friends who were witnesses to this tragedy.

--H

 

[kayrosek]

Yeah, I was telling my mom that we were thinking of going to the Grand Canyon next summer. Her response "Don't do that someone just fell over the edge there." It's sad but it was caused by getting to close to the edge in the first place. I have no intention of doing that or letting the kids get to close at all so I'm not too worried about us falling. Still it is really sad.

 

[Geoff_M]

We saw some terrifying feats of stupidity when we took our kids to Yellowstone. We had MANY discussions about the thermal features and how you HAD to stay on the path or you could be killed. We saw one idiot CLIMBING on the terraces at Mammoth and I literallly covered my kids' eyes fearing we were about to see someone burned to death.

We were at YNP last month and saw our fair share if "tourons" (a contraction of "tourist" and "moron" we learned that is popular with the park workers). I got a good photo of one standing out in the middle of a bison herd as it crossed the road. He was about 10 feet away from a mother and a calf taking photos of the two. I thought for sure I was going to get a photo of a charging upset momma bison! At Mammoth, we too saw someone step off the walkway at the top of a terrace and walk over to the edge of a flow for some better photos.

 

[Andtototoo]

We saw some terrifying feats of stupidity when we took our kids to Yellowstone. We had MANY discussions about the thermal features and how you HAD to stay on the path or you could be killed. We saw one idiot CLIMBING on the terraces at Mammoth and I literallly covered my kids' eyes fearing we were about to see someone burned to death.

On the same day, we were fortunate enough to see a grizzly bear. We joined a fair-sized group of people watching it from the side of the road. Then this couple came up, got out, opened their cooler, and SAT DOWN TO EAT. RIGHT THERE WITH THE BEAR!!! OMG!!! We hastily decided we had seen enough of the bear and moved on.

(

Background: my mother was an ER nurse and whenever she'd see a motorcyclist without a helmet, she'd mutter, "Organ donor".

The stupidity we saw 1973 in Yellowstone is actually what first sprang to my mind when I saw the title of this thread. Every day there were amazing acts of idiocy. I'll never forget seeing a parent urge their two little girls off of the path in the thermal areas. Why? "To get a better view." Or the father giving his little kids peanuts to feed BY HAND to the prairie dogs. Guess what happened? CHOMP on a toddler's finger. Father was pretty upset when my mother mentioned that the toddler was probably in for a round of rabies shots. His argument was that he didn't expect the prairie dogs to bite since they looked like big hamsters (as if hamsters don't bite) and that he thought only dogs like Old Yeller could get rabies.

So when we visited Yellowstone, we were muttering, "Organ donor" multiple times every day.

 

[PatsMom]

We've had several incidents here in the White Mountains this year. In one, three people were swept over falls after climbing over a fence. The first slipped, the others tried to rescue him. The bodies were found a couple days later.

Leaf Peeper season is coming; there will be more incidents.

My daughter works in the tourist trade. She is always amazed at how numb they can be. A lady was recently injured pretty badly at the Alpine Slide where she works. She thought she was immortal and ignored the "abandon your sled and walk down if it starts to rain" warning. She was unable to slow herself and didn't have sense enough to jump off. She just flew off the end! The ambulance parks near her little ice cream shack so she always knows when someone has done something dumb.

Tourons! I love that one and will have to remember it.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

Eliza,

I'm very glad you posted this observation and the ensuing discussion. I read newspapers from around the US. and noticed a jump in tourists' deaths this years. At Yosemite, they are at double (15) the normal amount of deaths at this time in a normal year.

I tried to get family and friends interested in this type of discussion but no one is interested in what looks to be sporadic accidents in National Parks. But the lack of awareness of these victims really bothers me. I never thougt to label it stupidity, but "if the shoe fits..."

 

[laurie31]

We were at YNP last month and saw our fair share if "tourons" (a contraction of "tourist" and "moron" we learned that is popular with the park workers). I got a good photo of one standing out in the middle of a bison herd as it crossed the road. He was about 10 feet away from a mother and a calf taking photos of the two. I thought for sure I was going to get a photo of a charging upset momma bison! At Mammoth, we too saw someone step off the walkway at the top of a terrace and walk over to the edge of a flow for some better photos.

We learned this word there too! We love it - it's the perfect word for those people.

Background: my mother was an ER nurse and whenever she'd see a motorcyclist without a helmet, she'd mutter, "Organ donor".

The stupidity we saw 1973 in Yellowstone is actually what first sprang to my mind when I saw the title of this thread. Every day there were amazing acts of idiocy. I'll never forget seeing a parent urge their two little girls off of the path in the thermal areas. Why? "To get a better view." Or the father giving his little kids peanuts to feed BY HAND to the prairie dogs. Guess what happened? CHOMP on a toddler's finger. Father was pretty upset when my mother mentioned that the toddler was probably in for a round of rabies shots. His argument was that he didn't expect the prairie dogs to bite since they looked like big hamsters (as if hamsters don't bite) and that he thought only dogs like Old Yeller could get rabies.

So when we visited Yellowstone, we were muttering, "Organ donor" multiple times every day.

I'm also a nurse and use the "organ donor" phrase routinely.

I fear that tourons wouldn't have anything suitable for donation, though. LOL.

OMgosh, the guy really didn't know that wild animals carry rabies? Where did he think Old Yeller caught it? Hopefully he won't be letting the kids feed bats and racoons next.