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Riverside County Deputies Call for Mandatory Boating Licenses to Prevent Accidents

Riverside County Sheriff deputies are calling for mandatory licenses for boaters just like licenses for motorists. This, they believe, would prevent most boating accidents in California.  Last year, there were 21 boating accidents in Riverside County. These boating accidents killed 4 people and 13 people were injured. In San Bernardino County, there were 47 accidents in all, none of which resulted in fatalities. 49 people were injured.

Just yesterday, this California boat accident lawyer blog reported on the Coast Guard’s boating accident fatality statistics for 2008. According to the report, there has been an increase of 3.5 percent in the number of boating accident fatalities in 2008, compared to the previous year. Making the case for compulsory boater education classes, is one shocking fact. Only 10 percent of accidents ending in fatalities occurred on vessels in which the operator had received boating safety education. An overwhelming majority of fatal accidents involved vessels whose operators had not received boating education.

Last year, the Recreational Boaters of California, which is a nonprofit organization protecting the interests of recreational boaters, proposed  a mandatory licensing program. The bill was approved by the legislature, but because of budgetary concerns, was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As things currently stand, a person doesn’t have to undergo a boating safety program before he or she goes out on a personal watercraft on the water. There are no licensing requirements in place. What that means is that California’s lakes and rivers are filled with hundreds of boaters who are not formally trained to handle a watercraft safely. Combine that with the fact that our state’s waterways are a magnet for water lovers, especially during the summer months, and you begin to understand why accident fatalities have risen the way they have.

There are any number of ways a lack of boating education can impact the safety of a boater on the water. An untrained and inexperienced boater can violate a number of rules in the water. It’s easy to think as you steer a boat through a seemingly endless expanse of a lake, that there are no rules to follow. Actually, boaters can indulge in dangerous behaviors, like going against the flow of traffic on a lake, and boating at excessive speeds in a no-wake zone. Besides there is always a possibility that boaters will indulge in stunts on the water that actually raise the risk of accidents for other boats.

Compounding the problem of lack of boater education is also the fact that there are few restrictions on alcohol consumption on boats. Automobile drivers cannot have open containers of alcohol in their cars, but no such law exists for recreational boaters. However, boat operators can receive citations for boating under the influence.

California’s boat accident lawyers believe that boating safety education is more important than ever, because of the faster and more powerful boats these days. Riverside County deputies say they also see 32-foot boats that go at more than hundred miles per hour. Add a lack of education and alcohol use to such a situation, and the potential for an accident is high.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of boat accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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