A good walk spoiled?

The photo you see to the right is from the walking track around the Barwon River at Geelong in Victoria. It is the walk my wife and I use on a regular basis. It is a great walk because it is close to home and there are a number of circuit options from the car park which range from about 50 minutes up to 4-5 hours (we haven't done the long walk yet). My wife was born and grew up near this river using this track and she tells me the walking/bike track you can see has been there as long as she can remember (I'm too smart to put a number of years here!).

Then this sign appeared sometime during the past 12 months. At first I just ignored it but the more we walked past it the more annoyed I became. What does it mean? Nothing has changed on the track so why now? I have come to the conclusion that this is what happens when you let lawyers get involved in matters that belong in the realm of common sense.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the meeting to discuss the erection of this sign! How do you think it went? I can't imagine the bizarre justifications that were used at that meeting but I believe it boils down to one thing - a ridiculous and totally over the top aversion to risk and an abrogation of personal responsibilty. The gradient referred to in the sign is not a particularly steep one and if we take this sign to its logical conclusion does that mean that there will need to be a sign notifying us of every change in gradient on the track? If so then there will be an awful lot of signs. It is really just visual pollution and shows us that it is not just our children who are being wrapped in cotton wool but that our whole society which is heading this way - unless we start to do something about it and reclaim the place of risk and personal responsibility as desirable concepts.