| Boating and personal watercraft (Jet Skis and Sea | | | | thirty-four (34) percent of all boating fatalities -- up |
| Doos) accidents often occur due to negligence. They | | | | eight (8) percent from 1999. A Coast Guard study |
| can result in serious and sometimes deadly injuries. | | | | estimates that boat operators with a blood alcohol |
| There are many different types of water sport | | | | concentration above .10 percent are estimated to be |
| accidents, including accidents that occur during | | | | more than 10 times as likely to be killed in a boating |
| recreational activity, on a cruise ship, navy vessel, or | | | | accident than boat operators with zero blood alcohol |
| via maritime work. Regardless of the type of boating | | | | concentration. |
| accident involved, a boating accident lawyer | | | | *Approximately eighty (80) percent of all boating |
| specializing in personal injuries from boating and | | | | fatalities occurred on boats where the operator had |
| watersport accidents can help recover any damages | | | | not completed a boating safety education course. |
| lost as a result of the accident. | | | | *Nearly 70 percent of all reported accidents involve |
| Boating Accidents at a Glance | | | | operator controllable factors. The primary causes of |
| *The Coast Guard received reports for a total of | | | | accidents are operator inattention, careless/reckless |
| 6,419 recreational boating accidents in 2001. The | | | | operation, operator inexperience, operating at an |
| casualty data for 2001 showed 681 fatalities and | | | | unsafe speed, and no proper lookout. |
| 4,274 injuries. | | | | *"Capsizings" and "Falls Overboard" accounted for 386 |
| *Four hundred and ninety-eight (498) boaters | | | | fatalities, nearly sixty (60) percent of all reported |
| drowned in 2001. Life jackets could have saved the | | | | boating fatalities. Nine out of every 10 of those |
| lives of approximately 420 boaters who drowned. In | | | | victims drowned . "Collision with Another Vessel" was |
| 2001, approximately eight out of every 10 victims in | | | | the most reported type of accident . These |
| fatal boating accidents were not wearing life jackets. | | | | accidents resulted in 1,366 injuries and accounted for |
| Boaters continue to be at a greater risk of dying | | | | nearly nine (9) million dollars in property damage. |
| when involved in an accident during the fall and | | | | *Twenty-six (26) children age 12 and under lost their |
| winter months than in the summer. Besides the | | | | lives while boating in 2001. One hundred and |
| colder weather and water, there are fewer boaters | | | | thirty-seven (137) boaters died in the 40-49 age |
| and patrol officers in the area to rescue boaters in | | | | group category -- the highest number reported for |
| distress. When waters are below 60 degrees | | | | any age group. |
| Fahrenheit, hypothermia can set in quickly. Those | | | | *Three hundred and fifty-two (352) fatalities |
| who hunt and fish from boats, especially in colder | | | | occurred with the use of open motorboats, just over |
| weather, need to dress for possible immersion and | | | | half of all boating fatalities. One hundred and one |
| wear their life jackets. Boaters in larger bodies of | | | | (101) people lost their lives while using canoes/kayaks |
| water should also take advantage of using available | | | | in 2001. Approximately ninety-three (93) percent of |
| distress alerting and position indicating technologies to | | | | canoe/kayak deaths were caused by drowning. Fifty |
| improve their chances of survival if a mishap occurs. | | | | (50) fatalities occurred with the use of Personal |
| *Eighty-five (85) percent of fatalities occurred on | | | | Watercraft (PWC), the lowest number of PWC |
| boats less than 26 feet in length. Seventy-two (72) | | | | fatalities reported since 1993. Approximately eighty |
| percent of those victims drowned. Specifically, 322 | | | | (80) percent of all reported injuries were associated |
| fatalities occurred on boats less than 16 feet in length | | | | with the use of open motorboats (46%) and PWC |
| and 254 occurred on boats 16 to less than 26 feet in | | | | (34%). Lacerations were the most reported type of |
| length. | | | | injury for open motorboats. For PWC, broken bones |
| *Alcohol involvement in fatal accidents accounted for | | | | were the most often reported type of injury. |