AIBU to think that we need more education about the sea?

[LyndaNotLinda]

Six people dead in 24 hours around the British coast. Many more injured. Lots of RNLI staff risking their lives to save people who have taken insane risks.

I live on the coast and a number of people on our beaches get into serious trouble every summer and that isn't even with a storm thrown into the mix. Once you add that in, the risks to holidaymakers are enormous.

Do we need government warning to tell people that it isn't safe to go in or near the water in high winds? It just seems that people were taken totally unawares by the power of the sea :(

rnli.org/safety/respect-the-water/Pages/news.aspx

rnli.org/safety/respect-the-water/activities/at-the-beach/Pages/at-the-beach.aspx

www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables

jobs.rnli.org/lifeguards-3158.html

2striped yes, rescue services cost money, but that service would have to continue, whether or not there was a national education and information programme. So, there would be an additional cost.

If private land owners were required to provide additional education, the result would be that many beaches would be closed to the public. The National Trust and English Heritage own coastline that they open to the public; if there was a greater burden on them to keep the public safe, then they'd close the beaches, or make them fee paying, rather than give people free access.

Local authorities may do the same - create a secure beach environment, to which the public can gain entry only after paying a fee and being given safety advice. Locals could buy season tickets, Bypassing the safety briefing once they had done it once - maybe with an annual refresher?

I think people should be made more aware of the dangers of walking on a beach as the tide comes in. Depending on the beach an incoming tide will come in on either side of you, the tide in front of you is still a good way off, but before you know it you're completely cut off. Two girls in Blackpool had to be rescued this summer after being cut off this way.

m.westbriton.co.uk/lucky-teenagers-stranded-on-homemade-raft-in-sea-at-newquay-s-fistral-are-rescued-by-lifeguards/story-29675975-detail/story.html

Words fail me