Can a playground be too safe?

I have just returned from a wonderful weekend away.
My friend Cindy and I went to visit one of her friends who has a house by the lake in Monticello, about 2h North of NYC.
The place was really great.

The group had at disposal a huge house, a speed boat, a floating dock, canoes, kayaks, foam noodles to float in the lake and the coolest hot tub I've ever seen.

I have a confession to make: I had never before swam into a lake and I had never canoed before!
A lake is quite different from the crystal seas I have gotten used to swim in during my travels. I admit that I felt a bit hesitant when I was asked if I wanted to go for a little canoe trip. Hm, I couldn't see my hands a couple of feet underwater let alone the bottom of this lake... And the question that went through my head was "is it safe?"

Despite my little hesitation I decided that really there was nothing to be afraid of and I should just suck it up and go!
I'm happy to report that, non only I turned out to be a natural at canoeing, but I also spend good part of the afternoon floating around in the lake with my new friends having a great time and not having a clue about where my feet were !

There are new regulations being considered now in Europe aiming to reduce the height of climbing frames in playgrounds and change the swing chains so that children won't be able to go too fast or too high.

I remember all the fun I used to have at the playground when I was a kid. I've never been too shy in the sense of joining an adventure (read "getting into trouble" if considered from my parents perspective!).
I used to hang from the frames upside down, I used to ask my dad to push me super high on a swing, I would climb onto the tallest slide, I got bitten by a few dogs and once I even jumped into the deepest part of a swimming pool without knowing how to swim forcing my dad to a sudden dive to come and rescue me from drowning!

By gradually exposing themselves to more and more dangers on the playground children are using the same habituation techniques developed by psychologists to help adults conquer phobias.
As a paradox, our fear of children being harmed by the most harmless injuries may result in more fearful children and increased levels of psychological problems.

And so I wonder, would I be the way I am now, sort of ready to jump into the deep end if I had had nothing "dangerous" to face in my childhood?
What sort of adult a child would turn out to be if he didn't have to confront challenges, fears, if he didn't have to push himself a little higher, a little further, a little harder?

Can a playground become too safe for a child? Judging from my own experience I may answer that with a yes!