Boating Safety is No Accident
Typical Boating Accident
It is a Saturday in July between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 with calm 70 to 79 degree water, light wind (0-6 mph) and good visibility typically in California or Florida. The boaters are about 44 years of age with or without one passenger out for a recreational cruise on a lake, pond, reservoir, dam or gravel pit in a 16 foot fiberglass open boat with a 125 hp engine built before 1995. The boat operators have 101 to 500 hours of boating experience and 79% of them have had no formal safe boating instruction. The conditions are perfect for operator inattention and the boating accident happens at 10 mph with a collision to another vessel.
2008 Boating Statistics
The Coast Guard estimates that there are over 70 million recreational boaters using over 12.6 million boats registered in America. In 2008 there were 4,789 boat accidents resulting in 709 deaths, 3,331 injuries, and approximately $54 million dollars in property damage. Of the boaters who died, 510 drowned, of which 459 were not wearing a life jacket. In other words, over two-thirds of all deaths were due to drowning and 90% of those deaths were not wearing a life jacket. Are you wearing your life jacket?
You can see the full 2008 Coast Guard Boating Statistics report at: http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/Publications/Boating_Statistics_2008.pdf
Boat Accidents
Seven out of every ten boaters who drowned were using boats less than 21 feet in length. Open motor boats were involved in about 43% of all reported boating accidents, personal watercraft such as Jet Skis® and WaveRunners® about 23% and cabin motorboats about 15%. Canoes and kayaks had 243 casualties of which 100 drowned.
Of the reported boating fatalities that occurred, approximately 70% of those operating the boat had not received boating safety instruction. Operator inattention, careless or reckless operation, operator inexperience, no proper lookout and passenger/skier behavior are the top five primary contributing factors in the reported accidents. Alcohol involvement ranked eight on the list was the leading contributing factor in fatal boat accidents, accounting for nearly 17% of all reported boating deaths.
Boat Safety Responsibilities
As the operator, captain, or skipper of a boat, you are responsible for your vessel and the safety of those aboard and for others in the boat’s vicinity. You are also responsible for swimmers, water-skiers and anyone else who may be affected by your boat’s course or wake. It doesn’t matter if you have the right away or not, you are ultimately responsible.
If you rent a boat and are stopped for a boat safety inspection and the boating safety inspector discovers that some of the required boat safety equipment is missing, you as the captain could get fined, not the person who rented the boat to you. It is the responsibility of the boat’s captain to have all of the required boat safety equipment, not the person who rented the boat to you.
The captain is always responsible for the boat's wake and any damage that it may cause. Not only is the captain responsible for the boats wake in a "No Wake Zone," but anywhere else that the boat's wake may cause damage as well.
It is the boat operator’s responsibility to make sure that no one on the boat does anything to endanger the vessel or the other passengers. If one of the boat’s crew members starts a fight with someone else the operator of the boat may be held responsible.
Boat Instruction
Of the 709 deaths from boating accidents in 2008, only ten percent occurred on boats where the operator had received boating safety instruction.
The key to safe boating is to be knowledgeable. Boat operators can take boater safety training classes offered by the Unites States Coast Guard Auxiliary and learn about boating laws and boating safety rules of the local area they will be operating in. In addition, the classes may cover topics such as; boat safety gear, boating rules, calling for help and survival. It is the boat operator’s responsibility to know the boating safety laws and have the proper boat safety equipment for the local area.
