Bad decisions, not being trapped, lead to drownings in floods

Melbourne, April 15 (ANI): If a new Australian research is to be believed, then people are drowning in floods not because they're trapped, but because they make bad decisions.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Queensland University of Technology, showed that more than 90 per cent of flood-related deaths resulted from individual choices to either engage in inappropriate risk-taking or enter flooded waterways on foot on in a vehicle.

The researchers say that most of the victims of 73 flood-related drownings from 1997 to 2008 were not trapped by the floods, reports News.com.au.

In study, Professor Gerry FitzGerald, of QUT's School of Public Health, found 40 per cent of deaths were linked to driving motor vehicles across flooded waterways or roadways, despite public warnings to avoid them.

Another 9 per cent involved driving into a collapsed section of a flooded roadway.

The researchers found that 26.5 per cent of deaths were associated with risky behaviour such as swimming or board-riding in flooded waterways and 16 per cent involved attempts to swim or wade across flooded waterways.

The study is published in the latest edition of Emergency Medicine Australasia, the journal of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. (ANI)