Recreational Boating Fatalities Increase
Coast Guard Sees a Rise in the 2008 Fatality Rate
Aug 12, 2009
The United States Coast Guard released its recreational boating safety statistics for 2008 in August of 2009. One area of concern is the increase seen in boating fatalities, with a rise of 3.5% or 24 additional deaths compared to 2007. The fatality rate or number of deaths associated to the number of registered recreational boats increased from 5.3 deaths per 100,000 vessels in 2007 to rate of 5.6 deaths per 100,000 boats in 2008.
Coast Guard Director of Prevention Policy Rear Admiral Kevin Cook points out the significance of boating safety education saying,"The 2008 report shows a clear link between safety and boating education by highlighting that only 10 percent of deaths occurred on boats where the operator had received boating safety education. This statistic indicates that boaters who have taken a boating safety course are less likely to be involved in an accident. In addition, two-thirds of all fatal boating accident victims drowned; and of those, 90 percent were not wearing a life jacket. The Coast Guard urges all boaters, whether as an operator or passenger, to take a boating safety course and to always wear your life jacket."
Significant Recreational Boating Safety Statistics
During the year of 2008, the Coast Guard recorded some 4,789 boating accidents. These accidents accounted for 709 deaths, 3,331 serious injuries and about $54 million dollars in property damage. The Recreational Boating Statistics 2008 document offers a number of important safety considerations for boaters.
- More than two-thirds of all boating fatalities were from drowning, 90% of these accident victims were not wearing a lifejacket
- Only 10% of the fatal boating accidents involved an operator that had received boating safety education
- 70% of those who drowned were in boats less than 21 feet long
- The top five primary contributing accident factors were operator inattention, careless or reckless operation, no proper lookout, operator inexperience and passenger or skier behavior
- Alcohol was the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents. It was seen in 17% of the deaths
- Open motorboats, personal watercraft and cabin motorboats were the most commonly seen vessels involved in reported accidents
- The top five primary accident types were collision with vessel, flooding, collision with an object, falls overboard and skier mishaps
- There were 12,692,892 recreational boats registered in the United States during 2008. This represents a 1.4% decrease compared to the 12,875,568 boats registered during 2007
The Coast Guard collects statistics on recreational boating accidents through a network of state casualty reporting systems and from reports generated the agency of accidents that occur on waters under Federal jurisdiction. The report for 2008 marks the 50th annual report prepared by the Coast Guard. Data presented in the report may be copied and freely distributed in an effort to improve boating safety awareness. Boaters can learn much from a review of these statistics.
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