All of these thoughts are good. The stats are well represented in Deep Trouble, which was the first thing to pop into my mind when I read the initial post. The common element in all the points raised might be redefined as either a lack of knowledge of the environment --- in aviation, we call it situational awareness --- in which we may want to paddle, or a disregard for that environment. I've seen both factors kill paddlers.

A cure for the lack of knowledge of conditions can be reading the classics --- including Deep Trouble ---, in joining an interactive, safety-oriented paddling group with good corporate memory and members willing to share that memory, or in joining and monitoring any of the more safety-oriented bulletin boards or listservers like PaddleWise.

There isn't much hope for people who know the factors that will kill them and intentionally disregard those factors. Darwin usually takes over eventually. I've buried a couple of them.

Jack Martin