Archive for the ‘Boating Accidents’ Category
Posted by admin on 04.21.2011
If you plan on boating this summer, be sure to take extra precautions to avoid a Boating While Intoxicated (BWI) charge. Law enforcement agencies in the greater Austin area have been joining forces to eliminate drunk boating on local lakes.
This spring, the first “Boating While Intoxicated-Driving While Intoxicated” Task Force for Highland Lakes was created to help prevent accidents and injuries due to boat operators who are under the influence. In some case, these officers can enforce even stricter rules than on-the-ground officers. Specifically, the task force has a constant “no-refusal” policy: if boaters refuse a Breathalyzer test, the officer can get an immediate warrant for a blood test. Also, officers can pull boats over without any reason to check for drunk boaters, life jackets, and licenses. One LCRA officer claimed that officers can pull over up to 100 boats over the course of a busy weekend.
The BWI-DWI Task Force will be on the lookout for intoxicated boaters on lakes Buchanan, LBJ, Inks, Marble Falls, and Lake Travis. They suggest not only recruiting designated drivers for time spent out on the lake, but also designated boaters.
Posted by admin on 05.20.2010
One moment you’re in a boat, speeding across the water and enjoying your day off when the driver takes a disastrous turn into a rock. Thrown from the boat, your day of fun in the sun has turned into a tragic accident.
Sadly, scenarios like this one are not that uncommon. Accidents in the water often lead to serious brain, back, and neck injuries. In 2007 alone there were 3,686 reported injuries due to boating in Texas, and a total of 5,223 boating-related accidents.
What’s so shocking about these numbers? According to the Coast Guard, only 10 percent of boating accidents are actually reported! That means there is likely 10 times the number of accidents happening that require representation. This is despite a law that states accident reports have to be filed within 30 days of a boating related incident or a fine up to $500 could be issued.
Posted by admin on 03.02.2010
Boating accidents have become a serious problem in recent years due to more and more people owning their own vessels. Many accidents are a result of negligence, carelessness, or intoxication on the driver’s behalf, or from inexperienced operators getting behind the wheel.
The top five factors in accidents are:
-Careless/reckless operation
- Operator inattention
- Not looking around properly
- Operator inexperience
- Bad skier behavior
Driver intoxication was the cause for roughly one-quarter of boating accidents, and was ranked the number one contributor in fatal accidents. There are laws in the state of Texas that prohibit boat drivers to operate vessels if a person does not have normal use of their mental or physical abilities due to the consumption of drugs, or having a blood alcohol concentration over .08.
When a boating accident occurs, there are many ways aside from being struck by another vessel in which people die. In many cases it isn’t even the collision that causes death but what the victim’s do afterwards that results in death. People involved in a boating accident can be pulled under water by a current and can suffer brain damage or drown. Two-thirds of all boat accident victims in 2008 drowned and of those, 90 percent were not wearing a life jacket. In some cases people accidentally jump from the vessel into shallow waters to escape fire and injure their spinal cords. Some survivors don’t flee the scene fast enough and get burned or drown from the engine exploding.
It has been shown that only 10 percent of deaths occurred in boating accidents where the driver received boat safety instructions. With that being said it is a good idea to take safety precautions to make sure your boating experience goes as smooth as possible.
- Make sure the driver isn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol
- Check to see if there are enough life jackets for everyone on board
- Be sure the boat is running properly
- Check to see if the driver has experience in operating a watercraft
If a boating accident does occur, check to make sure that everyone that was on board is okay and that no one has drowned, then clear the area immediately. It is always a good idea to contact a boat accident lawyer so they can help find the source of insurance coverage and litigate the case correctly.
