So when will we ever learn? Selfies are fun and all, but are they worth a trip to the hospital or possibly dying for?
KarryOn has already reported on the rather macabre statistic that selfie deaths are more common than shark attack deaths.
We’ve also recently reported on the young man who destroyed an irreplaceable piece of Portuguese history by knocking over a 126-year-old statue whilst trying to take the “perfect” selfie.
And now, in the past two weeks, another two reports of selfie-related injuries have made the news. No one died – thankfully – but both travellers sustained injuries, and unluckily for one Japanese man, those injuries were very bad.
The Japanese man, Haruhisa Saito, 52, was taking a selfie on the famous River Kwai Bridge in Kanchanaburi in Thailand when he was hit by a train, in full view of hundreds of shocked tourists.
Saito sustained sustained broken ribs and serious head injuries as a result of the incident.
According to witnesses at the scene, the Japanese businessman was walking along a section of the infamous World War II Death Railway with some of his employees when he stopped to take a selfie.
Completely oblivious to the oncoming train approaching behind him – he even failed to hear the train’s whistling – the train eventually struck him, throwing him from the bridge to the ground five metres below.
Ouch!
In another incident, an American tourist visiting Yellowstone National Park was charged by an elk after she tried to pose for a selfie with the animal in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKoXUIJBC-4
Ignoring the repeated calls of her tour guide, Jody Tibbitts, to get away from the wild animal, the woman eventually got a little too close and the elk charged at her from the bushes, knocking the woman to the ground metres away.
Luckily, the woman sustained no serious injuries, and after dusting herself off she promised it “won’t happen again.”
“That elk had just given birth to a calf. I think the only reason she attacked was that she had a calf and she was protecting her young.”
Jody Tibbitts, tour guide, speaking to ABC News.
The National Park Service rules state that tourists should stay at least 100 yards (90 metres) away from bears and wolves, and at least 25 yards (22 metres) away from other animals.
These two incidents (in addition to a string of selfie-related deaths over the past two years) have called into question serious safety concerns over the selfie:
What does our selfie-obsessed culture say about us?
Should selfies be banned in certain places? (Disney has already banned the selfie stick at its themeparks over safety concerns.)
And if so, how would we even designate in which places they should be permitted?