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Blutarg t1_iwe8lee wrote

Reply to comment by SocalPizza in TIL about Deaf lifeguard Leroy Colombo, who overcame childhood paralysis through swimming and saved a record-breaking 900+ lives during his career. His swimming talent and use of sight rather than sound to identify drowning swimmers allowed him to save people other lifeguards would have missed. by lemontreelemur

Yes, indeed. People think a drowning person will splash around and scream. Nope!

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dbx999 t1_iweiiqq wrote

And people don’t wave their hands in a broad movement. They’re busy panicking and treading water to keep their face above water and failing at it. They pose a low profile visually with little discernible obvious motion

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Admetus t1_iwfivbe wrote

Saw a replay video outside a swimming pool of occurrences of near drowning.

It's all kids and they just go underwater with hands above their head. Videos like that are educational because it increases your hazard awareness. It's not morbid because all children were raised and fished out promptly before inhaling any/much water.

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bozho t1_iwftd8h wrote

If you can scream, you can breathe.

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South_Data2898 t1_iwifiat wrote

Lol. Not even close to how that works. Just because you can exhale does not mean you can inhale.

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bozho t1_iwiry25 wrote

In the context of active drowning, to what my original comment was referring, it does. Once your mammalian drowning reflex takes over, your airways close up to prevent you from inhaling water and you are not making much noise.

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