PWC-related Accidents - Accidents

Accidents

All boating accidents in the United States either occur on state- or federally-patrolled waters. Whether state or federal, reports must be filed for a predefined level of damage and are compiled by the United States Coast Guard (which uses the reported data for its annual BAR—Boating Accident Report—Statistical Reports). As automotive law-enforcement officers outnumber boating law-enforcement officers in the U.S., federal government reports for watercraft are comparatively fewer. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted general investigation of the recreational-boating accident-reporting system in 1998 and compiled its findings in a published report. The NTSB's investigation emerged with data seen as representative of overall recreational boating; an example follows from the report's conclusion:

Inattention (attributed to 307 operators), inexperience (attributed to 296 operators), and inappropriate speed for the operating conditions (attributed to 246 operators) were the most frequently cited causes that contributed to the PWC accidents. One or more of these three causes were associated with 70 percent of the 814 accidents. A fourth cause, improper lookout (153), was associated with about one-fifth of the accidents.

According to the aforementioned interpretation of the NTSB report:

• The vast majority of accidents (over 90 percent) were caused by operator error.
• There is a significantly higher association with accidents for rental operators (nearly 25 percent) than is the case for the general boating population; however, this may be related to the higher percentage of rental operators.
• The NTSB report did not conclude that PWCs are disproportionately represented in boating-accident statistics.

A study performed by the Red Cross in 1991 concluded that during the research period, PWC accidents were not disproportionate to their use by the boating population. This was later supported by a Coast Guard study presented to the State of Vermont in 1996. Both studies presented findings that the comparative accident rates for personal water craft were not disproportionate to their use by the boating population; the reports emphasized the high level of attention and publicity that PWC accidents receive.

During the late 1990s, several states (including California and Florida, two jurisdictions which, according to the NTSB report, accounted for over 50 percent of all personal-water-craft accidents in the U.S.) changed their laws regarding the use of personal water craft. These amendments included the introduction of limits for wake-jumping, the prescribed use of a PWC within 100 feet (30 m) of another vessel, "spraying" activities, mandated operation of PWCs within 150 feet (46 m) of the shoreline, and age restrictions for operators (the operator age was raised from 12 to 16 years for all affected states, with Florida also introducing a mandatory boating-safety course for those under age 18). According to the State of California, these laws have directly contributed to an over-50-percent reduction in accidents.

A notable fatality occurred on July 1, 2012 in Little Sabine Bay (near Pensacola Beach), Florida; retired astronaut Alan Poindexter was killed when the PWC he was riding was rammed by one operated by one of his sons.