Risk management gone mad?

[GPSGuided]

People are no longer taking responsibilities for themselves and the law courts take a view that they are all innocent. End result, litigation and risk management and skyrocketing insurance premium. That's life.

[Hermione]

falling tree limbs? hell you better put that warning in the yard of every house with a tall tree in it..... how did we ever survive before signs like these???

Uh oh! Falling tree limbs, in that case my place is a death trap the whole half acre is covered in trees, which are always shedding various bits sometimes quite large! Probably much safer to go walking than sit at home where I could be crushed at any second

[Swifty]

falling tree limbs? hell you better put that warning in the yard of every house with a tall tree in it..... how did we ever survive before signs like these???

Uh oh! Falling tree limbs, in that case my place is a death trap the whole half acre is covered in trees, which are always shedding various bits sometimes quite large! Probably much safer to go walking than sit at home where I could be crushed at any second

I have had three incidents with limb-falls in the bush. First time I got hit over the shoulder, 4 inch 6-foot long branch fell clean from the canopy (25 - 30m) and boy did that hurt. A bit further to the left and it would have cracked my skull. Second time a 30' tree fell over our camp, no injuries but very close. It is a good idea to have a good look about where you pitch your tent!

There were no warning signs

[Hermione]

Yeah I got knocked off my mountain bike by a falling branch, dislocated my shoulder but that was more the fall from the bike ( luckily wearing a helmet). No warning signs on the track though! I'm always careful about pitching the tent too close to suspicious looking trees, though with gum trees you can't really tell, the healthiest looking trees still seem to shed branches without warning. Probably just being alive is dangerous, it inevitably leads to death. We can stay home and worry about it or get out and enjoy it while we can.

[north-north-west]

A recent Victorian addition to the genre:

[wayno]

why not just put up one of these to cover all bases

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[north-north-west]

Funny, I have that sign over the from door to The Hovell . . .

[Gippsmick]

I came across a classic a few weeks ago at the Prom. 5 Mile Beach requires a 17km walk to reach it. Sign states "Beach is not patrolled by lifeguards."

Plus this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43818052@N00/8966888311/
Basically the outdoors are dangerous so wrap yourself in cotton wool, stay on the couch at home and do nothing. In the meantime rather than demand people take personal responsibility for their own actions, land managers everywhere will state the obvious to cover their behinds. Where do you draw the line between advisory signs and risk management gone mad?

[vagrom]

The people who put the signs up probably think the same. It's just a legal requirement to show that reasonable attempts were made to alert those folk (okay, city folk ...) visiting areas where it might reasonably be accepted that unfamiliarity with certain aspects of the great outdoors might lead them to do things that others regard as daft.
It must have been one of those things considered by authorities at some point when it was realised that encouraging people to get out and about was paradoxically exposing them to diverse risks.
True enough, the signs more often than not are utilitarian and ugly blights upon the landscape. What would be good, would be the posting of photos of signs that showed artistic merit, even humour and info with value to all, (...and that had been run past a QC, for safety you understand).
The Yanks are the legal Beagles. That may well be where friendlier signage is to be found. Less Achtung, more Bienvenue.

[ithomas]

I saw this sign by the side of a boardwalk in a coniferous forest on the slopes of Mt Changbaishan in Northern China.
Ian

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[wander]

That is superb, i have seen similar in Japanese National Parks.

[Clusterpod]

This tickled my funnybone. This is in a remote corner of the Walpole-Nornalup NP.

No mobile reception of course. Staying in the area? Well, I'll be there three days. Should I walk back to Walpole and ask? I dunno, the sign looks pretty old. But they are just re-using an old one!

Oh, "Aerial" has been blotted out, so it won't be death from above.

Better not eat any sausages I find lying about though. 1080 risk!

[Earwig]

It's good to keep the message simple and to the point.

[Happy Pirate]

This at the track below Mt Speculation.
How to reply to idiots.
May be hard to read:
"Where's the No Through Road Sign?"
"On the Map you didn't read"