ENJOY YOUR BOAT—SAFELY!
Florida boating accident deaths and injuries are up significantly since the pandemic of 2020. No wonder, boat sales went through the roof as people sought a way to safely enjoy a respite from the pandemic. When you combine all those new boaters with the approximately 2 million registered and unregistered pre-Covid boaters, trouble on the water was inevitable. Here’s some tips on keeping you and your family safe so you’ll have only fond memories of your boating trips.
- Take a Safe Boating Course: Not only will you protect yourself and loved ones from injuries, but you can protect your boat from all sorts of physical damage. The cost is only your time, since the courses are virtually free when you consider the insurance discounts you’ll likely get with proof that you completed the course. Note that 70% of boating deaths occurred on boats where the boat operator had no boating safety instruction. Find a course near you by clicking here.
- Wear a Life Jacket: Why? Because drowning is the number one cause of boating deaths by far and in approximately 80% of those cases the victims were not wearing a life jacket.
- Follow the Weather: It’s important to know the conditions you’ll be boating in so you can take proper precautions. If you’ve lived in Florida for any length of time, you know weather can change quickly. Put a storm tracker on your phone for easy access. I’ve found the free app, “Storm Radar: Weather Tracker” to be excellent.
- Designate a Sober Captain: Alcohol is often involved in boating accidents. Designating a sober captain before leaving the dock is the right thing to do for everyone’s safety.