Risk not obvious

Young people are risk takers but they aren't necessarily stupid. Kids can understand and evaluate dangerous activities from a very early age. If not, lots of kids would be killed on playgrounds every day. But, the New South Wales Supreme Court thinks 14 year olds are complete idiots. How else to explain the court awarding a man over AU$1 million for jumping off a bridge and breaking his neck despite a warning sign? Especially when the jumper admitted he knew he was taking a big risk:

Phillip James Dederer, now 20, said he saw the sign but, as a "cocky 14-year-old", he ignored it. The risk was "part of the thrill", he said.

The court had this angle covered:

Justice John Dunford said yesterday that while he accepted Mr Dederer had engaged in a "dangerous recreational activity", a 14-year-old, unlike an adult, could not have been aware of the risk of serious permanent injury.

"I am not satisfied that it was an obvious risk," Justice Dunford said.

The sign didn't make the risk obvious so tax-payers get to pay for this fellow's folly.

I see a future where the warning labels will weigh more than the hammers they're attached to.