By Bob Currie, Recreational Boating Safety Specialist
U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Station Galveston Flotilla
An inherently dangerous activity is one whose nature presents a risk of grave injury or death without the use of and sometimes despite the use of special skill and care. By just thinking for a second we can all come up with several inherently dangerous activities. The first one that people often think about is the occupation of lion tamer. There is a high risk of injury or death each time the lion tamer steps into the ring with a group of lions. Many recreational activities easily fall into the inherently dangerous activity category. I have a son who is a certified skydiver. He could probably quote some statistic that says more people die eating roasted marshmallows each year than those who die from skydiving. That does not change the fact that skydiving is an inherently dangerous activity. It’s high on just about everyone’s inherently dangerous activity list.
The Station Galveston Flotilla of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary operates out of the USCG Station Galveston base on Galveston Island. They aid the Coast Guard by providing maritime observation patrols in Galveston Bay; by providing recreational boating vessel safety checks; and by working alongside Coast Guard members in maritime accident investigation, small boat training, providing a safety zone, Aids to Navigation verification, in the galley, on the Coast Guard Drone Team and watch standing.
Of the 3.3 million total skydives recorded in 2019, 15 resulted in fatality, making the skydiving death rate 1 in 220,301. When considering the tandem-related skydiving fatality rate, the number is 1 in 500,000 jumps. Many people find that statistic to be an acceptable risk. The rest of us simply say skydiving is not for me. We wouldn’t be talking about this if I wasn’t leading up to applying the inherently dangerous activity classification to recreational boating. Looking at the 2020 Recreational Boating Statistics, the last year for which we have complete data that have been analyzed, the fatality rate was 6.5 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels (767 deaths all told). This rate represents a 25% increase from the 2019 fatality rate of 5.2 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels. In 2019 there were 613 recreational boating deaths and 2,559 injuries. Yes, recreational boating is an inherently dangerous activity.
Top 5 Known Causes of Death
Of the 767 deaths from boating accidents in 2020, the top 5 causes accounted for 706 of those deaths. Here are the top 5 causes of death (ranked in order, number of 2020 deaths in parentheses):
- Drowning (534)
- Trauma (152)
- Cardiac arrest (11)
- Hypothermia (6)
- Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning (3)
Top 10 Contributing Causes of Boating Accidents
Even skydiving has more than one cause of death or injury; “parachute didn’t open” is not the only cause. Recreational boating has many contributing causes of death and injury, though, and just knowing what those causes are will help you to prevent them from happening. Here are the top causes (ranked in order, number of 2020 deaths in parentheses):
- Boat operator inattention (55)
- Boat operator inexperience (56)
- Improper lookout (28)
- Excessive speed (32)
- Machinery failure (19)
- Navigation rules violation (26)
- Alcohol use (115)
- Weather (42)
- Hazardous waters (62)
- Waves and wakes (14)
Risk Mitigation: Drowning Prevention
What if you could do just one simple thing to keep from drowning in the event of a boating accident? Of the 534 deaths from drowning, 450 people were not wearing a life jacket. It’s really that simple: wearing a life jacket would have prevented 84% of the boating accident deaths from drowning. Some of those who were wearing a life jacket but drowned anyway were knocked unconscious and the life jacket they were wearing was not designed to keep an unconscious person’s head above water. Yes, there are different levels of protection offered by life jackets. I wear one that is designed to keep my head above water if I am knocked unconscious. Annual life jacket wear studies show that in 2020 (the last year for which we have complete statistics) only 6.5% of adults in open motorboats were observed wearing life jackets while underway. Not all the drowning deaths occurred while the boat was underway. We had a couple of drownings that occurred at the dock, and a few that occurred while the boat was anchored. If you really want to mitigate the risk of drowning, you must always wear a life jacket, whether underway, at the dock, or anchored.
Risk Mitigation: No Alcohol on Board
If you look at the top 10 primary contributing causes of boating accident deaths, you see that Boat Operator Inattention was ranked the number one cause of boating accidents, with 55 deaths from the 664 reported accidents, but if you look at alcohol use as a contributing factor, there were 115 deaths from 296 reported accidents. It doesn’t take much in the way of math skills to see that you are 4 times more likely to die from an accident involving alcohol (more than twice as many deaths from less than half as many accidents). Oh, I know that many of the deaths are caused by the other boater who is boating under the influence. This risk mitigation would have to involve all boaters in order to work, but it starts with you. We need to get the drunk boaters off the water. Just as you can report a drunk driver on the highway, you can report one on the water. So back to Boating Operator Inattention: you may fall into this category if you fail to recognize that the boat that is about to collide with you is operating erratically due to the operator operating under the influence of alcohol. You must operate with awareness of other boats and how they are being operated. On the highway if we see a car weaving back and forth we can rightly assume the driver is under the influence. It’s the same on the water.
Risk Mitigation: Knowledge, Training, and Experience
Back to the skydivers. They undergo ground school instruction, equipment use training, and start with tandem jumps. They then go to solo jumps with their parachute strap (aka rip cord) automatically pulled as they exit the plane, and then gradually move to free fall jumps where they must pull their own cord. The industry is so well regulated that you are not going to skip any steps in your training. Unfortunately, when you pull that brand new boat out of the dealership, you are totally on your own.
If you were born after August 31, 1993, you must have completed a safe boater course in order to operate a boat powered by a motor of 15 horsepower or more or a windblown vessel over 14 feet in length. The knowledge imparted to you by a boater safety course is probably your best investment regardless of your age or experience. The second best investment is to undergo a Coast Guard Vessel Safety Check (VSC). The VSC will ensure that you have the proper and required safety equipment, and the inspector will make additional recommendations based on your needs. There are many boating courses you can take to increase your knowledge, and some include on the water training.
Experience should be gained gradually, incorporating as many safety factors as possible such as operating in uncrowded waters with good weather and flat seas. This is akin to driving around in an empty parking lot to learn how to drive a car. Ride with experienced boaters and ask for a little experience at their helm. Find an experienced boater and get them to mentor you.
Summary
You have probably never thought of recreational boating as being an inherently dangerous activity but doing so can put you in the mindset of operating more safely than you would without doing so. By always wearing a life jacket and by not allowing alcohol on your boat you greatly increase your chances of coming home from a boating trip safely.
For more information on boating safety, please visit the Official Website of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Boating Safety Division at www.uscgboating.org. Questions about the US Coast Guard Auxiliary or our free Vessel Safety Check program may be directed to me at [email protected]. SAFE BOATING!
[Dec-21-2021]
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