A great variety of factors enter into nearly any decision made on the water. To understand the decision making process, it is helpful to identify contributory factors and understand their relationship to one another. The lists go on and on. Participants can then take some responsibility of their safety. Having participants on river trips fully involved with minimizing hazards is a powerful ingredient in making safe river trips.
Trips are safer by far when all members of the party are watching out for one another.
The most important aspect of preventing accidents occurs at the decision making stage when less experienced boaters depend on those with more experience. The use of river accident case studies as a teaching aid is sobering, eye opening and enlightening. Case studies vividly describe what can go wrong when basic river safety procedures are violated. We all need an occasional visit to the other, frightful side of outdoor programming. Often when trips are running smoothly year after year, we and our staffs can be lolled into a false sense of security, and an occasional review of someone else's misfortune can shake us to our senses again.