Only 56 percent of adults who say they can swim can perform five critical water-safety skills that could save their lives, according to a new American Red Cross survey.
Competency with all five – floating or treading water for one minute without a flotation device, stepping or jumping into water over your head and returning to the surface, treading water or floating in a full circle and then finding a way out of the water, exiting a pool without using a ladder and swimming 25 yards (the length of a standard pool) without stopping – is essential to being able to help yourself in a pool or open-water emergency, said Connie Harvey, a Red Cross water safety expert.
With Memorial Day and the start of many water-related summer activities days away, the nonprofit group is broadening its annual message about learning to swim and making smart choices around the water (such as always swimming in designated areas supervised by lifeguards and always swimming with a buddy) to emphasize the importance of knowing these “basic safety and survival skills.”
This is “not just something we think you should check off on your life-skills list,” said Harvey, noting that 46 percent of 1,024 adults in the new survey say they have had an experience in the water when they thought they might drown; 20 percent say they know someone who nearly drowned; and 19 percent say they know someone who drowned. The overall survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
People who have convinced themselves they can do more in the water than they’re capable of run the risk of endangering themselves or others, said Harvey.
Among other findings from the study:
33 percent of black adults say they can perform all five basic swimming skills, compared to 51 percent of whites; 84 percent of whites and 69 percent of blacks say they can swim.
56 percent of adults who say they can swim say they have never taken a professional lesson; 37 percent say they taught themselves.
Fear of the water (30 percent) is the most commonly cited barrier keeping nonswimming adults from learning to swim.
39 percent of parents of children ages 4-17 report their child can perform all five basic swimming skills; 92 percent say their child is likely to participate in water activities this summer.
20 percent of parents expect their child will take swimming lessons.
A CDC report released last week noted that about 21,000 children and young adults drowned from 1999 through 2010 and that drowning is responsible for more deaths among children aged 1–4 years than any other cause except birth defects. .
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