Cruise Ship Law

By Bob Massey

If you operate a boat in Charlotte County, odds are one in 2,440 you'll be involved in an accident.

In Sarasota County, although there are more people and boats, your chances are slightly better, one in 2,725.

Charlotte and Sarasota are ranked 22nd and 23rd respectively among Florida's 67 counties for the number of boating accidents reported in 2006. Go south just a little -- into Lee County waters -- and you'll enter an area ranked fifth in the state.

But the concern isn't with local statistics -- it's with the statewide ones.

In 2006, only California (with 757) outpaced Florida (671) in the number of boating accidents. Yet Florida led the nation in fatalities with 69 -- as compared to only 47 in Texas and 44 in California.

That's according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation's 2006 Boating Accident Statistical Report, released last month by the agency's Division of Law Enforcement, Boating and Waterways Section.

So the FWC is preaching a gospel of salvation to boaters -- salvation of lives and property, that is. The report allows the commission to review the most common factors involved in boating accidents, as well as precise locations where the greatest numbers of incidents occur.

According to the report itself, the agency uses the statistics to formulate proactive plans to get -- or at least keep -- the numbers down.

"There are occasions when data ends up being used to identify areas where there are specific areas of safety hazard," said Capt. Richard Moore, the FWC's state boating law administrator. "We'll see if there needs to be an extra regulatory measure put in place, such as a speed zone."

But, Moore said, the area he's proudest to be involved in is public awareness.

"I've been in this business nine years," he said, "and I'm committed to trying to change our boating culture. Our ultimate goal is saving people's lives, so we've got to find a way to change boaters' behavior a little bit. We've even started an ad campaign statewide."

That has to be a tough job when the number of registered boaters in Florida is at an all-time high, at more than 1 million -- an increase of 14,000 over 2005. That doesn't include the estimated 350,000 unregistered boats in the state.

Although Florida is the top state in the nation for the number of recreational vessels, it is second (behind California) for the most boating accidents.

The FWC began a pilot campaign in 2005 in Lee County, Moore said, to educate boaters about the top safety hazards.

"Over and over again, there were three topics of concern," he said. "We found out three were too many to focus on properly, so we narrowed it down to two."

The first factor

The two most common factors may seem like common sense, but apparently that's not so common.

"First and foremost, accidents occur because somebody's not paying close attention to what's going on around them," Moore said. "If you're attentive, chances of you running into something -- or something running into you -- are pretty slim."

One person who would agree with that assessment is Capt. Bruce LaMotte, owner of Lemon Bay Tours in Englewood, which runs sightseeing and nature cruises aboard a 49-passenger catamaran. He said he sometimes dreads going out on the water on weekends.

"One problem on the weekend is boaters who have had way too much to drink or are not paying attention," LaMotte said. "A lot of people get in their boat and don't have a clue about the rules of the road. Some people have the hammer down, going 40 mph -- and I can't see their faces because they're looking at their GPS to see how fast they're going."

Alcohol (and other abused substances), though not in the top two, is certainly an issue. It contributed to 15 percent of all fatal boating accidents.

Drinking while driving a boat is as dangerous -- or perhaps even more so -- than drinking while driving a car, said Captain Ralph Allen, owner of King Fisher Fleet, a cruise and fishing charter service operating out of Fishermen's Village in Punta Gorda.

"On a boat, there are no white lines like there are on the road, to at least keep them going straight," he said.

The second factor

The second factor in boating accidents is as logical as it is preventable.

After careful analysis to determine the primary type of fatal accident, Moore said, "it came back pretty quick that the majority are falls overboard."

Surprisingly, it's not the less aggressive waters of the Gulf where most incidents of this type occur. A whopping 73 percent of fatal falls overboard take place on calm, inland waters such as lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks.

The problem of people falling overboard is not the main concern, however.

"People are going to accidentally fall overboard from time to time," Moore said. "And there are a lot of things we could say, but it would get confusing.

"When you look at Coast Guard statistics, one of the things they said in their national report is 85 percent of the people who drowned in boating accidents could have been saved if they were wearing a life jacket."

Moore compares life jackets on boats to seat belts in cars. They won't eliminate fatalities -- but they sure will reduce them.

"The only thing the law requires is having enough life jackets on boat for the amount of passengers," Moore said. "A lot of these people (who became fatalities) had enough jackets on the boat -- but it wasn't doing them any good because they weren't wearing them."

Moore noted that life jackets do not have to be bulky, obtrusive or uncomfortable.

"They even have inflatable life jackets that look like a fanny pack," he said. "They're flat until you inflate them. It's comfortable to wear in Florida's heat, and it won't even ruin your tan lines."

But how do you persuade boaters to do the right thing?

State of concern

Like Moore, LaMotte feels that education should play a larger role in boater safety.

"I don't like a lot of government," he said, "but I believe people who take boats out should have some kind of (mandatory) education or class."

But there's something else he would like to see: more marine patrols.

"I don't see them out there during the busiest times," LaMotte said. "It would be nice to have them enforce no-wake zones a little bit more. Maybe if they (the offenders) got a ticket, they wouldn't do it as much."

LaMotte is not alone in his desire to see more enforcement. In the commission's 2006 Florida Recreational Boating Survey, nearly half (47 percent) of boaters indicated they want to see more agency enforcement on public waters. A huge 81 percent want greater enforcement on careless or reckless boaters, while more than half (56 percent) want the FWC to crack down on boaters impaired by alcohol or other substances.

Allen said it doesn't seem as if 2007 will be any better in the state.

"It's sad that we have such a high accident rate and fatality rate," Allen said, adding that Florida has had a string of fatal accidents this year all around the state.

"It looks like this will be a record year, the way we're going."