From Robert de la Haye.
THE recent dramatic rescue from drowning of a father and son near Seymour Tower and the tragic drowning at St Brelade have highlighted the need for prominent warning signs at the slipways around our coast.

The old signs at La Rocque were larger and more distinctive than those there at present. They portrayed a person in distress and carried the words: ‘Save your life. Many lives have been lost in this area. Do not venture down gullies and sandbanks unless fully aware of tidal runs.’

When Dominik Krizan was drowned opposite the Zanzibar Restaurant in St Brelade’s Bay on 17 August he would almost certainly have used the slipway near the Wayside Café to access the beach. Here the warning sign is tucked away behind the end of the seawall and can be missed quite easily by anyone walking down the slipway.

A notice listing the usual beach restrictions (loud radios, etc) is given a more prominent position. Which is the more important?

Most warning signs are posted on walls on either side of a slip and may not be seen by people walking down to the beach. By contrast, the warning notice at the beginning of the causeway to Corbiére Lighthouse is placed fairly and squarely at right angles to the causeway. Furthermore, it is large and easily seen.
I suggest that all warning signs should be given similar prominence.
Hilston,
Mont de la Rocque,
St Brelade.