River Safety - Survival

Alcohol plays a big part in these kinds of accidents. Alcohol makes people far less capable of handling the cold and less able to take actions to survive. ALCOHOL AND RIVERS DO NOT MIX.

In New Zealand there are many roads that run beside and over rivers so motor vehicle accidents are also a big cause of people ending up in rivers. Sometimes vehicles crash off the road into the river but the river can also rise during floods plucking vehicles from the road itself. On average (last 20 years 1985-2004) 17 people drown each year when their vehicles crash into rivers, and other bodies of water.

Falling into a river is different to going swimming in one because you

• will not be prepared for it
• could fall into a dangerous place
• will be wearing clothes
• may be carrying things, e.g. a school backpack
• may get cold due to the weather and water temperature
• may be alone
• may not be able to see because it is dark
• will experience the shock of falling into cold water and
• may have been drinking.

If you are in a vehicle accident, as well as the list above, you may have to deal with

• multiple people in the river
• injuries from the vehicle accident
• getting out of the vehicle, which may be badly damaged and
• being a long way from help.

The best way to survive is not to fall in at all

• Avoid riverbanks in flood.
• Watch out for undercut riverbanks.
• Do not mix alcohol or drugs and rivers.
• Be careful with vehicles near rivers. Do not drink and drive or speed.

There are lots of ways that you can end up in a river.
There is only one survival swimming position.

The River Survival Swimming Position

• On your back.
• Facing downstream.
• Your feet up with your toes just at the surface.
• Propelling yourself towards the nearest bank with your arms when you are in rapids.
• Change to side swimming when out of the rapids to get to the side.
• Abandon the survival swimming position if you are heading for a strainer (an obsticle like a branch or log). Swim as fast as you can sideways away from it. If you cannot manage to avoid the strainer, change to facing downstream at the last moment and climb as far up the strainer as you can. Hold on, making sure you keep at least your head out of the water.

The river survival swimming position allows you to

• see where you are going
• push off rocks with your feet
• see waves and take a breath before they hit you in the face and
• move to the side of the river and exit the water.