Sobering Statistics for Boaters
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2018’s National Safe Boating Week ends Memorial Day weekend, but the U.S. Coast Guard would like to leave Canyon Lake boaters with a few of its sobering 2016 Recreational Boating Statistics:
- Eighty percent of boating deaths are due to drowning
- Eighty-three percent of victims were not wearing a life jacket
- Two-thirds of drowning victims are good swimmers
- Seventy-seven percent of deaths occurred on boats where the operator had no boating-safety instruction
- Fifteen percent of deaths where the primary cause was known as alcohol as the leading factor
- One in three of all boating injuries occurred in boat operators over the age of 35
- 4,463 accidents were reported, a 7.3-percent increase from 2015
- 701 deaths were reported in 2016 — a 12-percent increase from 2015
- 2,903 injuries were reported — an 11.1-percent increase from 2015
- Recreational boating accidents resulted in some $49 million worth of property damage
- With 53 reported boating deaths, Texas ranked #2 behind Florida, with 70 deaths
- Texas is the fourth top-ranking state for reported boating accidents
Wearing a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket is the simplest life-saving strategy for recreational boaters.
Click here to take a life-jacket quiz.
Click here to watch a Texas Parks and Wildlife video about how to put a life jacket on a child.
