Danger as beach safety signs are ignored or not understood

There are calls to review beach safety signage, with a new study revealing a large proportion of beach-goers either ignore or don’t fully understand safety messages.

A record 141 drowning deaths occurred on the Australian coast in 2021-22, prompting some to question how well the safety signs are working.
A study found about half of people born overseas and 40 per cent of Australian-born people don't - or very rarely- bother reading the signs at all. It also revealed about 30 percent of Australian AND overseas-born beach-goers thought the ‘swim between the flags’ message means only those who are properly swimming - such as doing laps - could be there.
Dr Masaki Shibata from the University of Adelaide suggests that authorities should reconsider colour codings including the red and yellow flags, because in some countries red actually means danger.