Obey "don't go past this point" signs?

[Ellis Vener]

A cautionary tale:
http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/03/21/dnt-oh-man-falls-off-50-feet-cliff.wbns.html

[robdickinson]

This earlier in the year here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/9680000/Waterfall-death-sparks-review

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

I imagine we have all seen this before, but it still sends a shiver down my spine whenever I think about it.

But we all know that signs telling us such things as "don't go past this point" etc, don't actually apply to us as individuals, they are put there for everyone else to obey.  

Dave

[tim wolcott]

I think if we had to follow all the signs.  WE might have to soon wear seat belts when you have to go to the bathroom.  Signs are for people who have no idea what they are doing.  I wouldn't have half my images if I had to listen to everyone.  People think I'm crazy when I stand in the ponds, rivers and lakes with a 50,000 camera system or when I canoe with the gear.  I don't like cliffs but one must do what one must do.  T

[Colorado David]

I've spent a lot of time with my feet on the skids of helicopters or hanging out the doors of fixed wing aircraft, but when the ground falls away in front of me and I'm on terra firma, it makes the hair on my butt stand up.  Ponds and streams, not so much.

[NancyP]

Common sense - not so common, apparently.

[BobShaw]

Lots of tourists in Australia come unstuck wading into a creek to have their photo taken beside a sign that says to beware of crocodiles.

Never underestimate the stupidity of some people.

[Tony Jay]

As someone who grew up in South Africa and now find myself in Australia I find the plethora of signage prohibiting this and that in wilderness areas of Australia rather self-defeating to be honest.
Many people in Australia believe that if there is not a sign telling you not to do something then it must be safe to do it!
Clearly that is stupid but there are many fatalities here in Australia because commonsense is not applied to a particular situation.

In South Africa, when I was growing up, there were no signs warning of crocodiles in rivers, the dangers of cliffs, etc.
One had to exercise commonsense or else one was not long for this world.
It may just be my perception but there seemed to be much less fatalities from these sorts of situations because one was always forced to think.

(I do understand the problems with foreign tourists who may not be aware of certain specific dangers but signage does not seem to necessarily work either - as evidenced by the Asian tourist rates of drowning on the Gold Coast here in Queensland despite the forest of signage on every beach in every language known to man warning them not swim at unpatrolled beaches, at dawn or dusk etc.)

Tony Jay

[BJL]

As another example of the perceived need to spell things out that might seem obvious to us, consider the last lines of that Daily Mail article:

The Grand Canyon ... is famous for its array of bright reds and oranges, which are caused by the unusual geological formations.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1021134/Pictured-Photographers-moment-madness-leaps-8ft-gap-Grand-Canyon.html#ixzz2wvQYJ4z0

P. S. AFAIK it is mostly overseas tourists who get eaten by Australian crocodiles and make those warning signs necessary in tourist trap locales.

[tim wolcott]

Now that's a sign to obey.  Croc's, Alligators and other reptiles with big sharp teeth.  Not to be messed with.  If you do you become part of the cleaning the gene pool. 

[Glenn NK]

I'm not sure how much affect warning signs have on some people . . . .

There is a nice little waterfall (through a gorge) on the Athabaska River in Jasper National Park, Alberta:

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Athabasca+Falls/@52.664603,-117.883613,2a,90y,90t/data=!3m5!1e2!3m3!1s51142143!2e1!3e10!4m2!3m1!1s0x5382cd9199a9831f:0x92bd3ba3cc08040e!6m1!1e1

The fence is about four feet high (1200 mm).  Very close to the warning sign that "suggests" one not go beyond the fence is a nice little memorial to a young fellow that used to be invincible.

They say "fools and their money are soon parted"; to which one might add - "and their lives".

G

[telyt]

One of the most effective 'signs' I've seen was a non-verbal reminder on the road from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows.  It was a tire skid mark heading off the road & over a cliff.  I would not want to have been the one who posted the 'sign'.

[MarkH2]

So many ways to lose your life in the wild.  At once bemusing, scary, and educational: "Over The Edge: Death in Grand Canyon"  http://www.amazon.com/Over-Edge-Canyon-expanded-anniversay/dp/0984785809/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395807947&sr=1-1&keywords=death+in+grand+canyon

Consider, for example, the photographer with his back to the canyon framing his shot of a building, stepping over the warning fence, and continuing to back up eye to viewfinder until over the edge.

[sniper]

One of the photographers who seconds for me at weddings has a habit of taking silly risks (not at weddings I'm glad to say) Over the years I've seen her balancing on a handrail about a 100 foot above rocks, and many times I've seen her on the very edge of dodgy looking cliffs.  She just has no fear of death.
Some people will never listen to signs or reason sadly.
I don't think you can actually protect people from themselves, no amount of signs will stop idiots doing daft things...  What was it Darwin called it....   

[Petrus]

In some places going past the warning signs could land you in jail for a few years. Mesa Verde is one such place. It is not so much about falling from somewhere, but protecting the remains of an ancient civilization.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

A many years ago, when I was young and foolish, I was exploring unmarked dirt roads on Cape Cod (Massachusetts), when I came upon a sign facing the other way. I stopped the car before I got to the sign and got out to see what it said.

It said: "Caution! Do not go past this sign! Active artillery range!"

The scary thing is that the sign was clearly referring to the parts I had just driven through, even thought there had been no similar sign anywhere earlier.

I turned around and went back the way I came, and didn't encounter any unexploded ordnance on the way out.

I have a snapshot somewhere of the sign with my car behind it. If I can find it, I'll post it.

[ripgriffith]

If this sounds harsh, then so be it:  Anyone who falls off a cliff after failing to observe a sing warning  that beyond this point they might fall off a cliff, deserves to fall off a cliff.  I have little tolerance for this kind of idiot.

[Isaac]

To have little tolerance is not a virtue.

Errare humanum est.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

If this sounds harsh, then so be it:  Anyone who falls off a cliff after failing to observe a sing warning  that beyond this point they might fall off a cliff, deserves to fall off a cliff.  I have little tolerance for this kind of idiot.

I tend to agree. But I must point out that my own anecdote is more like a situation in which there is no warning sign at the top of the cliff, but at the bottom there is a sign stating "You have just fallen off the cliff. Too bad, buddy!"   

[Colorado David]

Many years ago I was shooting a sunrise shot from the top of a grain elevator in Southwest Kansas.  The name of the town needed to appear in the shot also so I needed to be positioned to shoot the sunrise and include the grain elevator's head house.  We got to the top of the elevator well before sunrise and the operator who accompanied me gingerly shuffled out towards the edge.  He stops at one point and rocks back and forth a little and says, "Don't go past here or the wind will suck you off the elevator." I did not go past.