Interesting...

[skymick 0]

If you want to court risk then think about horse riding or cycle
touring rather than bungying, rafting or skydiving.
Findings from a study by Massey University Centre for Tourism Research
post-doctoral researcher Dr Tim Bentley, suggest less regulated
activities, such as cycling, quad biking and horse riding, have a
higher injury incidence when all types of accidents, minor through to
fatal, are taken into account.
"These activities involve the risk of falling whilst in motion, and
operators from these sectors report the highest incidence of 'falls
from a height'," says Dr Bentley.
Dr Bentley's survey showed 516,722 people took part in organised
adventure activities in New Zealand in 1998, though as only half the
known adventure tourism operators took part in the survey, the actual
figure could be double that. Around half were overseas visitors.
Surprisingly, industry supplied figures show cycle touring to be the
most dangerous activity with on average 7401 injuries per million
participant hours. This was followed by caving (6636), fishing (3164),
quad biking (3096). Rounding out the top five was horse riding with
718 injuries per million participant hours.
bla bla bla removed ----
This is the first time adventure tourism activities have been surveyed
and the data collated across the whole industry. Dr Bentley says it
must be remembered that these figures were supplied by the industry
operators themselves, which may mean some activities have not declared
all their injuries to improve their position.
What is notable however, is that those activities we normally think of
as being the most dangerous are not so highly placed on the list.
Rafting - white and black water - come in at six and seven
respectively, but well behind horse riding. Bungy jumping (117) was
10th, jet boating (33) was 13th and skydiving (0 accidents per million
hours) had the least accidents, finishing last on the list of 21
activities. Activity mean IMPH ranking
Cycle touring 7401 1
Caving 6636 2
Fishing 3164 3
Quad biking 3096 4
Horse riding 718 5
White water rafting 537 6
Black water rafting 483 7
Mountain recreation 216 8
Diving 125 9
Bungy jumping 117 10
Windsurfing 50 11
Marine encounter 48 12
Jet boating 33 13=
Adventure education 33 13=
All terrain vehicles 25 15
Guided walking 20 16
Kayaking 14 17
Scenic flight 7 18
Eco tour 5 19
Skydiving/parasailing 0 20=
Ballooning 0 20=
IMPH: Injuries per million participation hours (all types of injury
minor through to fatal)

[Remster 30]

do you have a link to the original story?
I'd like to know how they calculated the hours of participation in skydiving....
Remster
Muff 914

[skymick 0]

nah i dont sorry, it was sent to me via email

[Remster 30]

Good old google.... found it:
http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/1999/press_releases/29-07-99.htm
Remster
Muff 914

[Scratch 0]

I can believe skydiving being at the bottom of the list but I have trouble with the "0". Ankles and knees get twisted all the time.
I wish the real world
would just stop hassling me~~~matchbox20

[FallRate 0]

Not to be an asshole...it may true that there were no incidents of injury while skydiving in New Zealand during this study (highly doubtful), but if there were less than one million hours of skydiving activity (which is the case) then the result is inherently flawed. Statistics serve us by reducing known data into easily identifiable figures; anything more and it becomes an excercise in propaganda. To translate the skydiving activity into millions of hours, you must project (predict) a number of incidences per million hours of activity based on the known number of incidences in proportion to the time that these activites took place, which in this case is less than one-million hours (guaranteed). By doing this the researcher can lead us to believe that in one million hours of skydiving (in New Zealand) no injuries would occur. This may be statistically valid, but it is patently false. No record of one-million real hours of skydiving activity anywhere will produce a record that is free of injuries.
To simplify this...imagine basing the safety record of skydiving on one skydive. If the jumper completes the skydive with no injuries then it could be inferred that skydiving is safe (without risk), because if taken as a statistical base, it could be inferred that in one hour...or a thousand hours...or a million hours of skydiving, zero injuries will occur. Or go the other way and picture in your mind the worst-case scenario of a first-time jumper losing his or her life. This could be used, as it sometimes is, to demostrate that skydiving is a "crazy" sport, enjoyed only by those who have a death wish.
At worst these statistics could be taken to mean that there is no risk of injury while skydiving. This is not the case. Skydiving is dangerous. Again, skydiving IS dangerous. That does not mean that injuries are inevitable and that we must resign ourselves to the idea that people will get hurt or die. It simply means that we must recognize that there are serious risks and dangers inherent to our sport and do our best to avoid injury.
Maybe I'm just grumpy, but I hate the idea that anyone is getting out of the plane with the idea that they will rely "on the odds" for a successful skydive.
FallRate
I should probably point out that I'm not in any way taking issue with you Skymick, just a late-night response to the study you referenced. I should also point out that if anyone notices any logical or grammatical errors in my post, please go to hell...it's late...I'm tired.

[Scratch 0]

Winston Churchill said it best.
You get lies then you get damn lies and then you get statistics.
I wish the real world
would just stop hassling me~~~matchbox20

[E150 0]

Ummmm - Chololate chip muffin

• Quote

[kmcguffee 0]

My entire job is using statistics to determine problems in manufacturing processes (Called Six Sigma). Take it from me, you can use statistics to prove anything you want when dealing with the general public.
I plan on using this skill for [Dr Evil voice] Eeeeeviiiiiiiiil, mwa ha ha ha ha! [/Dr Evil voice] and personal gain some day.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go."