Reply With Quote39% involved alcohol, I have a feeling RD is going to have something to say about this one.
Monday, December 29, 2003 www.thelog.com
More Boats, More Fatalities And Injuries, CG Reports
Monday, December 29, 2003
Log News Service - There was an increase in recreational-boat registration and boating fatalities in the United States in 2002, the Coast Guard reported.
The Coast Guard reported in its 2002 Boating Accident Reporting Data, which it released Dec. 5 and is the most current data available, that there were a total of 13,040,726 registered recreational boats in the United States in 2002 compared to 12,876,346 in 2001.
The 5,705 boating accidents reported to the Coast Guard in 2002 resulted in 750 fatalities, 4,062 serious injuries, and more than $39 million in property damage.
The 750 fatalities reverse a downward trend and are at their highest level since 1998 when 815 fatalities were reported, the Coast Guard said.
Seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned - 524 out of the total of 750 fatalities. And, the Coast Guard reported that nearly 85 percent of the victims who drowned were not wearing a life jacket. It said that the fatal-accident data show that approximately 440 lives could have been saved in 2002 if boaters had worn their life jackets.
Alcohol was involved in 39 percent of all boating fatalities in 2002 compared to 34 percent in the previous year.
Twenty-eight children age 12 and under lost their lives while boating in 2002 compared to 26 in 2001. And nearly 40 percent of the children who died were not wearing life jackets.
Although the most reported types of accidents are collisions with other vessels, capsizing and falls overboard are the most-reported types of fatal accidents and account for 56 percent of all boating fatalities.
In 2002, the most common types of boats involved in reported accidents were open motorboats (41 percent), personal watercraft (28 percent), and cabin motorboats (15 percents). Sharp increases were reported in the number of reported fatalities involving open motorboats and PWC from 2001.
Overall, operator inattention, operator inexperience, and excessive speed are the leading contributing factors of all reported accidents.
As in previous years, approximately 80 percent of all reported fatalities occurred on boats where the operator had not received boating-safety instruction.
Current federal regulations require the operator of a recreational vessel to report an accident when one or more of the following occurs: a person dies, or a person is injured and requires medical treatment beyond first aid; damage to vessels and other property totals $2,000 or more; complete loss of any vessel, or when a person disappears from the vessel under circumstances that indicate death or injury.
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39% involved alcohol, I have a feeling RD is going to have something to say about this one.
More Boats, More Fatalities And Injuries, CG Reports
Monday, December 29, 2003
Log News Service - There was an increase in recreational-boat registration and boating fatalities in the United States in 2002, the Coast Guard reported.
The Coast Guard reported in its 2002 Boating Accident Reporting Data, which it released Dec. 5 and is the most current data available, that there were a total of 13,040,726 registered recreational boats in the United States in 2002 compared to 12,876,346 in 2001.
The 5,705 boating accidents reported to the Coast Guard in 2002 resulted in 750 fatalities, 4,062 serious injuries, and more than $39 million in property damage.
The 750 fatalities reverse a downward trend and are at their highest level since 1998 when 815 fatalities were reported, the Coast Guard said.
Seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned - 524 out of the total of 750 fatalities. And, the Coast Guard reported that nearly 85 percent of the victims who drowned were not wearing a life jacket. It said that the fatal-accident data show that approximately 440 lives could have been saved in 2002 if boaters had worn their life jackets.
Alcohol was involved in 39 percent of all boating fatalities in 2002 compared to 34 percent in the previous year.NOTE 1: In La Paz County 100% of fatalaties involved alcohol)
Twenty-eight children age 12 and under lost their lives while boating in 2002 compared to 26 in 2001. And nearly 40 percent of the children who died were not wearing life jackets.
Although the most reported types of accidents are collisions with other vessels, capsizing and falls overboard are the most-reported types of fatal accidents and account for 56 percent of all boating fatalities. (NOTE 2: In La Paz County 100% of fatalaties were from collisions)
In 2002, the most common types of boats involved in reported accidents were open motorboats (41 percent), personal watercraft (28 percent), and cabin motorboats (15 percents). Sharp increases were reported in the number of reported fatalities involving open motorboats and PWC from 2001.
Overall, operator inattention, operator inexperience, and excessive speed are the leading contributing factors of all reported accidents.
As in previous years, approximately 80 percent of all reported fatalities occurred on boats where the operator had not received boating-safety instruction.
Current federal regulations require the operator of a recreational vessel to report an accident when one or more of the following occurs: a person dies, or a person is injured and requires medical treatment beyond first aid; damage to vessels and other property totals $2,000 or more; complete loss of any vessel, or when a person disappears from the vessel under circumstances that indicate death or injury.
Unless someone just crawled out from under a rock, this shouldn't be news to anybody. I've been preaching this stuff on here for the past couple of years.
You don't have to take it from me. This right here shows why we do what we do.
Thanks Boat Cop for the AZ Up-Date. I haven't seen a USCG breakdown of individual areas for the last few years.
At one time I received USCG up-dates every quarter, but with budget cuts those reports have disappeared.
Alan: When and where is the next boating class in your area?
Jim Wilkes
Wilkes Marine
Out of those accidents how many were on lakes and how many were in the open ocean.
HOW many were on JETSKIS....
........ Those damn indians !
So RD does that mean that the 5% increase in alcohol related accidents and fatailites is insignificant and not worth persuing or correcting?
My guess is the 5% of the family's affected would not agree (5% x 750 people = 37 more people dead than previous year).
My feeling is even if it didn't increase it's worth reducing that number.
You can argue the alcohol deal to hell and back. Numbers don't lie. On the highway or on the water. And just because the boating education number are more overwhelming does not mean there is not an (increasing) alcohol problem contributing to dead boaters. I fail to see how relaxing OUI laws will contribute to having less dead boaters.
Only thing it will contribute to is the ability to drive more partially impared without getting nailed which I guess is important to some because I keep hearing this argument over and over. I get tired of listening to the "infringed upon freedoms" argument in this area too. What about the dead boaters that died as a result of alcohol related accidents caused by impared or partially impared boaters making stupid decisions? Were their freedoms not infringed upon to a much greater degree?
Seems to me the problem is alcohol itself and peoples addictions to it that make any argument for not being able to drink it in any individual circumstance seem unreasonable to them.
Not trying to start shit. Just pointing out fact.
We all like to look and laugh at some of the stuff on here.
If you were parked on the street and saw a bunch of people partying and then getting in their cars driving like fools. I would hope you would alert the proper people. So what is the difference of this type of behavior at the river. It is even more dangerous than the street...
I feel that until you don't drink and realize how unsafe a person can be,and make bad decisions behind the wheel in the name of having a good time then there is no reasoning with that person
As Roger Waters sang, "Money money money money money..............money!!!"
Yes it is all about the money!!
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