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If it wasn’t for labels, how would we know what to do? If it wasn’t for a label, I might take a hair dryer to my next bath or wade into scalding hot water that is over 200 degrees. That’s actually what several people have done over the years at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. One person even dove in for a ‘warm’ swim and ended up in the hospital with third degree burns all over his body. The National Park is actually having problems with their own employees taking illegal ‘hot’ swims on their own time. With signs well posted about the dangers of the water temperature and dangerous ecosystem, people are still dying by ignoring or not understanding phrases like “danger!” Just so you know this is not limited to national parks, here are a few other misadventures by those who did not understand or maybe just didn’t care.

Bungee Jumping

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1997. Virginia. Eric Barcia plans his own bungee jump by tying together several bungee cords to almost the 70 foot length of the intended drop. Eric measured this very carefully and made sure his lifeline was just short of the full drop so he wouldn’t hit his head down below. Police found his 22-year-old body later hanging lifeless from the end of the outstretched bungee cords. What Eric forgot leads us to our next warning label: “Warning!  Bungee cords stretch!” (note; Darwin Award winner)

Viagra

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Bees do it. Birds do it. Even old men do it. But, why would a 28-year-old man need to swallow an entire bottle of Viagra to do it? Evidently because he could. The young man was challenged by two ladies to keep it up all day with them in bed. He naturally jumped at the chance without a thought. Literally, because he opened a full bottle and did a bottoms up with the contents. If he had thought about it, he might have wondered about the risks he was taking. He managed to please the ladies for 12 hours but died of a heart attack. Warning label: “Warning! Do not swallow entire contents at once no matter how desperate you are!”

Selfies

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A 21-year-old Spaniard wanted to take a unique picture. He climbed onto the top of a moving train and was electrocuted as he was trying to take the selfie. Warning label: “Warning! Passengers belong INSIDE the train — not on top!”

Look Both Ways

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In Long Island, a young 25-year-old woman was driving the Southern State Parkway. Her car hit the median and flipped over on its top. Amazingly, Brittainy Leith survived. She was dragged out of the car with limited injuries. Realizing her purse was still in the car, she crossed the three lane highway and was struck by a car and killed. Warning label: “Warning! The purse is not that important!”

Driver Safety

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In Mexico, two men were driving and met with a horrible crash that twisted the car’s metal front end into an unrecognizable shape. Naturally, air bags were deployed to help save the lives inside the car but it failed and the young men died. Why? Police investigated and discovered the air bags had been filled with twenty five pounds of cocaine to smuggle across the border.  Warning label: “Warning! Cocaine does not save lives!”

Do you think warning labels would have helped these people?

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