Westlake Reserve in Halswell after climbing through a gap in a safety barrier in the early

hours of December 29. His father Gary Bush told an inquest into the

death, at the Christchurch District Court yesterday, his son ``loved to try new dares''

and he believed the accident ``was a skylark

that went terribly wrong''. Speaking afterwards he told The Press: ``He should never have been able to climb it in the first place. ``It's a shame it's taken a death for Orion to realise their safety issues aren't what they should be.'' Patrick Gregan, from power provider Orion, told the inquest that since the death anti-climbing barriers on pylons have been modified, narrowing the gaps between safety wires. He said Orion had also launched a public awareness campaign promoting safety in schools and the media. Bush was one of a group of teenagers gathered for a drinking session at the reserve. He was a passenger in a car driven by his friend and had been drinking beer and spirits all evening. Friend Hayden O'Brien told the inquest he tried to warn Bush, when he climbed the pylon, he was in danger of being electrocuted, but another teenager dared him to touch the disks insulating the wires. O'Brien said Bush was hanging on to the structure with one hand and refusing to come down. ``AJ then saw the power insulators. He yelled ''What are they?''. O'Brien said another youth then shouted: ``I dare you to grab the disks,'' meaning the power insulators. ``AJ was reaching out for the power insulators with his right hand. The next second AJ and the air around him went blue.'' Bush was thrown to the ground having received a shock of 66,000 volts. Emergency services were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Coroner Richard McElrea said it was ``self evident'' the barrier to prevent Bush climbing

the pylon was ``insufficient'', but noted that

Orion had since carried out safety modifications

on all its tower pylons. The coroner also said that, while there was evidence Bush had been dared to reach out for the wires, he was responsible for his own actions, which resulted in his accidental death. ``He would have known it was hazardous. He had to make his way through a barbed wire anti-climbing device. It is self evident that he was acting irresponsibly as regard to his own safety.''

Submitted on 08/16/2005

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: The Press, Christchurch, NZ

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Tracy said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
He actually climbed through the safety barrier! I'm undecided as to whether this fails the maturity guidelines - but he's 18 - legally an adult here in the UK anyway

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
ok, 18 is in the grey area of maturity, but someone that old should have knowen better by the age of 10 not to play around high voltage substations. Granted, birds perch on wires and don't get electrocuted, but they're not grounded. Someone hanging on the tower and touching a wire is.

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