Under federal regulations, the operator of any
recreational vessel must report a boating accident
to the U.S. Coast Guard under four circumstances: a
person dies; a person is injured and requires
medical treatment beyond first aid; damage to the
vessel or the other property totals $2,000 or more,
or there is complete loss of the vessel; a person
disappears from the vessel under circumstances that
indicate death or injury. Although these are the
minimum boating accident reporting regulations,
certain states may enforce stricter laws in an
effort to determine boating accident responsibility
and prevent future boating accidents. As of
September 30, 2003, the Coast Guard stated that
there were 12,854,054 numbered recreational boats in
operation in 2002. Reported boating accidents
totaled 5,705 and resulted in 750 fatalities and
4,062 injuries. The number of fatalities reversed a
downward trend and indicated the highest number of
boating accident fatalities since 1998, when 815
were reported. Seventy percent of boating accident
fatalities were the result of drowning. Of these
drowning victims, 85 percent were not wearing life
vests. Experts say that 440 drowning deaths could
have been prevented if proper safety measures had
been taken. The most reported type of reported
boating accidents involved collisions with other
vessels, although more than half of the fatalities
reported were due to capsizing or falls. In general,
inattentive or inexperienced operators, careless or
reckless operation and excessive speed are the
leading causes of all boating accidents.
Additionally, approximately 80 percent of all
boating accident fatalities occurred on vessels
where the operator had not received boating safety
instruction; alcohol was involved in 39 percent of
all fatal boating accidents.
All of these statistics show that serious boating
accidents can be prevented if proper safety measures
are taken and adequate experience and education is
attained. Boat operators are responsible for the
safety of their passengers and must take proper
precautions to ensure boating accidents do not
occur.
If you have been involved in a boating accident
and have sustained injury or loss of personal
property, our office can help determine whether the
accident was a result of operator negligence or
could have been prevented through efforts of your
own.
