LOL, Cynic...as harsh as it sounds, the thought of 'natural selection' often comes to my mind. Dumbing of America has been going on for quite some time and some days seems to be escalating. That is most appearant from posted and printed warnings of things that SHOULD BE COMMON SENSE!!! I've often said the common sense gene is being bred out of the human race.

TURN AROUND...DON`T DROWN.

I kind of see it as more of a slogan or catch phrase that people will hopefully remember, much like "Buckle Up for Safety", or "Stay Alert-Arrive Alive".

Could it be?

Sue

Yes, Cynic, the pool isn't cleared much anymore. Been thinking that for a while now.

Moni

I actually live in an area where we have "low/high water crossings"..........from the time you are an infant and it's raining you hear the warnings about trying to cross these areas because they flood...They are actually marked with markers that tell you how deep the water is ....Every year there are idiots that think.....Oh I can make that....I don't want to have to take time to find another way to get to the other side ....and they die or the county spends untold amounts trying to rescue them......sometimes they even have children in the car. I am always shocked that these idiots would try and cross with the amount of news coverage we have.

IDIOTS.

:) check the packaging on a hand held hair dryer..it tells you not to use when sleeping.....

Ont gal, I was watching a show about addictions, and there was a woman who could not sleep without her hair dryer running in the bed with her... had never heard of such a thing, but it must happen or there would not be warnings!!

Yes, it really has come to that. Just down the street from us, there is a "low water bridge" that crosses the Shenandoah River (a fast-moving river). Signs are posted to warn people not to cross the bridge if the water is going over it; yet, every year or two, someone drowns. They think they can cross, but the river is so strong and fast that the car is swept right off the bridge. In the last year, two local residents died. Now, they have installed gates that are locked when the river is high.

I agree with Sue--I think it's designed to be a catchy phrase that people will remember. And I understand why it's necessary. People readily accept that one can be swept away in a raging river, but it's a stretch for many--even those with high intelligence--to imagine something as heavy as a vehicle to be overtaken by a flooded road. It's easy to think, I can get through this, no problem.

"Turn around.....don't drown" sounds good to me.

When people stop trying to sue the manufacturers of products the manufacturers can stop 'lawyering up' and printing warnings.

My bug-a-boo is the 'protective' plastic wrap on some products. It's more dangerous than the product. I once bought a pair of heavy duty scissors. They came in a hard plastic 'bubble'. I would have been able to open the package...if I already owned a pair of heavy duty scissors.

I think the problem is that so many people are already drowning in a flood of ignorance.

This is one example: In our area we are having a problem involving a situation with a dam across a river. The dam has been there "forever." It is part of the charm of this area. There is a group who want the dam destroyed. They say people drown there, especially children playing on it.

True, it can happen, and has happened, but if there is a river, people will drown, dam or no dam. Fact of life.

Oh, the group who wants the dam gone? They are fly fishermen. No dam, more trout.

And they will probably win.

For twenty some yours my family lived a few feet from that dam. The neighborhood kids, including ours, played there.

Sigh.

Sue

In CA they have had seat belt laws forever. When I worked in the ER and we were expecting an ambulance or helicopter from a car accident and the person had been ejected, it was usually an illegal immigrant with no drivers license who didn't know the importance of seat belts. Here in Iowa it is legal for a person over 18 who is a back seat passenger not to have to wear a seat belt. But the dumbest thing of all is that motorcyclist don't have to wear helmets! Every few days it seems, the Des Moines paper runs an item about a motorcyclist dying and they always mention whether or not they were wearing a helmet.

I live in SD and my husband drives one of the road graders for the county. Last week they all had to work 3 or 4 days overtime to put up flags to warn people that there was woter going across the road all over the county. In some spots they had to put up barricades because the road had washed out. On the highway they were trying to put clay on the side so it wouldnt wash the pavemint out. My husband came home and asked me if I want to go with him to do it and I said yes. We got to one spot and the culvert or piping that was under the road was still there but the road on top of it was gone. The hole was about 4 feer wide and about 2 feet deep. There were a lot of places like that. Last yeat they put in 2 new big culverts in one road and this year it washed them out again. We have a local newspaper andthen had a fron page article about how the road boss warned people not to drive around the barricades. I have already heard of 3 that did. One wasjust driving around and seeing how it looked and he thought he could make it across and now his vehicle wont even start because he got it wet. One was a farmer and he thought he could get out of his farm. His vehicle has major damage including the rearend and he hurt his wrist and back when he hit the other side. The thirdon was a rural mail lady and she had been driving around the barricades all morning and shedrove around one that had been tipped over in the middle of the road that they think the wind tipped over. She got down to the water and
tried to drive through it and got hung up in there and then called 911. They went out there with the ambulance and she had got out of her vehicle and was standing there and she just collapsed. I havent heard any more about her yet. You would think that people would be smart enough to heed the barricades even if they were tipped over because if they are not needed there anymore the county would leave them in the middle of the road. They are put there for a reason. Now they think the mail lady will probably try to sue the county. aaaaathey had run out of flags numrous times and they had to build more barricades because they needed so many

Chemocurl, I imagine it's possible they're trying to implement a new slogan though usually if they do, they hit the media to publicize it. "Click it or ticket" is the recent seatbelt slogan and "Over the limit, under arrest" for the dwi campaign. But they normally hit the media up for publicity to it and especially lately with all the talk of flooding I'd think they would have been using that unless they goofed up. Who knows. Turn around, don't drown, to me sounds more aimed at the same target as Mr. Yuck. Although inellectually... I really doubt it's a slogan the more I think of it. This is the first time I've seen this and it wasn't in any of the other statements issued at the same time.

With the hair dryer warning and the like, some of the other classics include the warning on plastic bags often wrapping small appliances occasionally poked with holes and imprinted with "not a children's toy"! Here kid, take this plastic bag and go play in the freeway. Unreal. There has to be a warning on peanut butter that it may contain nuts. And of course the coffee cups Caution: Contents are HOT! Mowers: do not stick hands or feet underneath mower when running. Do not drive with sunshields in place. Ah so many warnings to protect us when just a little thinning of the herd would do the same and save us a lot of money at the same time...

One of my favorites is the warning on the little packet of silica gel included in some packaging. It says "Do not eat" Now I think anyone stupid enough to eat that probably can't read anyway.

We have had a lot of rain.....and a guy in a Jeep got stuck going across a creek....that had turned into a lot more.
He was given a ticket today I heard on the news.
I guess he didn't think it would happen to him.

We have had a lot of rain.....and a guy in a Jeep got stuck going across a creek....that had turned into a lot more.
He was given a ticket today I heard on the news.
I guess he didn't think it would happen to him.

I have heard it for so long that I don't even think about it being odd.

Here is a link that might be useful: Turn Around

I think I've posted this before, but a few years ago one of our well-respected radio reporters was driving in the dark to do a story and very suddenly found himself in a whole lotta water. He had to bash out his window in order to keep from drowning. He was so very shocked, as he never saw the flooded road.

My DH would always yell at me if I was afraid to drive thru standing water. "Go on, don't be a coward." But I still turn around when I see a flooded road. Why? About 25 years ago, when we lived in another town, a driver drove under a flooded train overpass. Turned out the flood was about ten feet deep. He died in his car. Now I knew that road had a deep dip at that spot, so I never would have crossed there. But suppose I was unfamiliar? I might be dead too. Except I choose not to indulge in such risky behavior.

There is another dumb thing (in my opinion) we hear about in Minnesota and other northern states, some people just seem to have to be the first to drive out on a ?frozen lake. The Q mark is because, unless they actually get out of their vehicles drill down in the ice and measure. Whether the ice is thick and strong enough, is a crap shoot.

Hi Dot mom,

Ice can vary in thickness, too - especially on a river where water is moving ...

... so drill here, and the ice could be as thick as the guy's head ... but thinnner over there - thin enough to let a snowmobile fall through - let alone a car.

Oh, well.

Like they said - the thinning of the race.

Seems as though they have a pill for dang near everything - when'll they get one to overcome "stupid"?

ole joyful