September 1, 2004
Article

Tide Begins To Turn Following Mandatory Life Jacket Debate

A major national debate on whether recreational boaters should be required to wear a life jacket while underway in a boat ended last week with little support for the proposal. During a public forum conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), nearly every sector of the recreational boating community - from the boating consumer to the boat builder to the boat dealer to life jacket manufacturers - expressed strong opposition to a governmental mandate or failed to embrace the idea.

Speaking before a crowded auditorium filled with boating safety experts, federal and state officials and interest group representatives, BoatU.S. President Jim Ellis urged boaters to wear their life jackets when necessary, but argued that a new generation of inexpensive personal flotation devices that boaters would actually wear rather than stow in a locker on board a boat, as is now the case, is what is needed to reduce the number of drownings.

Of the approximately 700 boating fatalities each year, about 400 of these are drownings in which the victim was not wearing a life jacket. It is estimated that as many as 75 million Americans go boating at least once each year and that the cost to the boating public of having to purchase a life jacket that they would actually wear could exceed $1 billion.

"Forcing all boaters to wear an uncomfortable life jacket on a hot day when there is no perceived risk has little support among the boating public," said Ellis, in releasing the results of a survey conducted last month by the Recreational Marine Research Center of Michigan State University at the request of BoatU.S. According to the survey of nearly 10,000 boaters, 86% of those responding opposed a mandatory life jacket requirement.

"A broad-brush, one-size -fits-all approach will not solve this problem," said Ellis who urged the NTSB and the Coast Guard to conduct more thorough research on the causes of boating fatalities before issuing more regulations. See http://www.BoatUS.com for full survey results.

NEWS  From  BoatU.S.

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