National Safe Boating Week

2013's National Safe Boating Week runs from May 18 through the 24th. This entire week is dedicated to emphasizing the importance of safe boating - and ways you can be a safer boater. All week, we'll be posting on Facebook and Twitter ways you can be a safer boater. But do you know why we place such an importance on safe boating practices? Check this out: 

The one thing this data does not show is the number of boating related fatalities in 2011 - and that number is 758. What this data does show is exactly how people do not take boating safety seriously - and in what forms it occurs. 

According to this information, the number one type of boating accident is colliding with another recreational vessel. That's boat-to-boat collisions. But for a really interesting comparison, look at the number of deaths that resulted from the over 1,000 collisions. The percentage is very small. Take a look at the fifth most common type of boating accident - man overboard. Though the number of instances this occured is smaller, the proportional number of deaths resulting from this accident is much, much higher.

Now take a look at the chart detailing the top contributing factors to boating accidents. While it is not #1, you can see that the largest number of fatalities resulted from alcohol use. Now, don't get us wrong - we are all for enjoying beverages (if you are of age, of course) while out on the boat. But we also understand that boating is essentially equivalent to driving a car. You can inflict the same amount of damage with a boat as you can a car. You carry other people in a boat, just like you do a car. So do not fall under the incorrect impression that alcohol does not interfere with boating like it does with driving. In fact, in both Virginia and Maryland, the legal blood alcohol limit is 0.08% for boating, just like it is for driving.

So obviously one way to maintain safety while boating is moderating the amount of alcohol present in the boat operator. As we said, stay tuned for the rest of the week on our Facebook and Twitter pages to learn of other ways to mitigate risk and boat more safely.