The average swimming pool used to have a diving board,
but there were accidents, and finally Insurance
Companies
raised the rates so high that almost all of them were
torn
down. They tend to survive only in certain sporting
venues, which means that the average amateur, who
wants to become
a diver, is very limited in places to go
to
practice.
It is my understanding that more of the accidents were
related to the diving boards breaking, than to, say,
divers
colliding with people already in the water below. So,
what
if there was a safer alternative?
Well, there is "platform diving" (linked). Solid
reinforced concrete
will break extremely rarely, compared to a frequently-
flexing diving board, and so far as I know, the Insurance
Companies haven't declared them to be too risky. But
the
"feel" of starting a dive is very different, especially for
someone used to a flexible diving board....
So, see the linked image; it is the kind of springboard
used in gymnastics for vaults and such. Now suppose
such
a springboard was solidly attached near the edge of a
diving platform? It would be possible to run and bounce
and get most of the enjoyment associated with classic
diving boards.
And springboards are safer, too; they have actual
springs
that are designed to be removed in patterns, for
different
amounts of springiness. This means they all could
simply
be replaced at intervals, preventing surprise breakages.