Boating fatality numbers are down but Florida still leads the nation

There was a drop in the number of boating deaths last year, nationwide and in Florida.

Fifty-eight people were killed in boating accidents in Florida last year according to the U.S. Coast Guard 2013 Recreational Boating Statistics released Wednesday.

That’s the number of any state, out of a total of 560 boating deaths across the nation.  

Nationwide, alcohol use continues to be the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; about 17 percent of deaths can be tied to boating and alcohol.

77 percent of fatal boating accident victims drowned; of those drowning victims, 84 percent were not wearing a life jacket.

If you want to look at the stats for yourself, just follow the link we’ve set up at oysterradio.com.

And by the way, National Safe Boating Week begins on Saturday– the theme of this year’s event is “wear it”.

The National campaign hopes to get more boaters to wear their life jackets in an effort to lower the number of avoidable boating deaths in US waters.

 http://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/AssetManager/2013RecBoatingStats.pdf


http://live.oysterradio.com/