The Great Life Jacket Debate

As you read this article, the Canadian government is trying to decide if should become a legal requirement to wear a life jacket or PFD when boating on any recreational vessel up to six meters in length (or about 19.5 feet).

They have launched a public consultation and survey on potential options for the mandatory wearing of life jackets. We know that there is already plenty of legislation in place regarding onboard life jacket requirements, including what defines a legal life jacket, and descriptions of several situations and boat types where jackets must be worn. We also know that if your boat sinks, leaving you five miles from shore in a heavy thunderstorm, you would welcome a life jacket. And when you look at statistics there might seem to be a clear case for jacket wear to become law. Right?? Not necessarily. This is not just another opinion, but the most logical conclusion after applying considerable boating experience and examining a multitude of factors.

To understand both sides of the great life jacket debate, you might expect an article on the subject to present a detailed list of what proponents state as to why it should become law to wear a life jacket in every boating scenario, and then list the objections that objectors have against such legislation. Instead I will outline the simple realities that identify such legislation as a bad idea.

Firstly, the proponents of life jacket legislation seem to believe that every boater that dies in a boating incident, could have been saved if they had been wearing a life jacket. In fact, many people who died in boating accidents would have died whether or not the boater was wearing a life jacket. Statistics themselves state that 80% of boaters who died were not wearing a life jacket. This means that about 20% of boating accident victims were wearing a life jacket and died anyway. So the number of people that jackets could save is lower than stats alone indicate. Then if you consider the Red Cross numbers stating that over 50% of boating deaths are alcohol related it seems that we can half boating deaths by just eliminating alcohol. Would it not be easier and less intrusive to enforce alcohol free boat driving than making everyone buy and wear an approved life jacket even in good weather? The truth is, we really don’t know how many boaters who were in a fatal accident last year, would have been saved if they were wearing a life jacket. Examining the accident details, it would be safe to say, "some of them."

The Red Cross research states that 82% of boaters currently believe that it is a legal requirement to wear a life jacket. But by simply observing the boats on our lakes we know that most boaters choose not to wear one. Given this fact, can you imagine how difficult it would be to enforce a mandatory wear regulation? It is also interesting that over 89% of boating accident victims are male? Does this tell us we should only legislate for men to always wear a life jacket? Hardly.

Since more people drown in back yard pools than in boats, a life jacket law would most certainly have to include people who take a dip in their private pool. And since drowning in a hot tub is classed as a water related incident, should the life jacket law include hot tubs? (Brenda and Tom would not appreciate that.)

We must take a serious look at the big picture. Boating is an outdoor, ‘wind in your face’ sport for the whole family. So is skiing. There are some inherent dangers with boating, as there are with skiing. We know that wearing a helmet can save a falling skier’s life, yet a helmet is not legislated. Despite no legislation, recreational skiers when skiing on dangerous slopes or tree filled runs almost always put on a helmet. Herein we find the major difference between these two sports and that difference is the key to this whole boat jacket question. Skiers have available at almost every ski hill, professional instructors to teach them how to properly participate in their sport, ski within their ability and avoid dangerous situations. Such is not the case for people who decide to buy a boat. Boaters are not provided with the instruction and skills required to properly operate their water craft, nor do they understand the many ways that driving a boat can be dangerous.

If Transport Canada is even thinking of adding more restrictions to any sport, even with good intentions, they must do it fairly. Consider the thousands of helpful items Canada Transport could make citizens buy that could help prevent injury. For example, Canada Transport knows that motorcycles have resulted in more deaths this year than have boats, and they also know that full leather jump suits very much protect motorcyclists. When wearing leathers, many riders can get up and walk away from serious spills. But, try telling ‘Guido’, a member of the “Evil Guys” Motorcycle Club, that starting tomorrow he must always wear a government approved leather outfit when riding his motorcycle. Should Canada Transport regard a boat safety item as being more important than a motorcycle safety item? Case closed.

While I would be the first to acknowledge that life jackets can be an important weapon in the ongoing fight to reduce boating injuries, it is clear to me that forcing boaters to wear safety protection is not a good idea. Instead, Canada Transport should create a full and practical plan to elevate the status, knowledge, and safety of pleasure boating. The possibilities for such a plan are limited only by the imagination of those responsible. After graduating thousands of public and government boat drivers in my classroom boating courses and operating the best available on water, pleasure boat driving course, I have plenty of ideas. I know that the better someone understands boating, the safer they are. I also realize that today, most boaters don’t even know what they don’t know. This makes education the key to good boating and the better a person can drive a boat, the safer and more comfortable both a driver and his passengers will be. Knowing how to handle different boating situations and how to spot in advance, potentially hazardous situations is far more effective than making jacket wear mandatory for everyone. Whatever your sport, you can appreciate tips and guidance, but the fun stops when faced with a wall of regulations. Boat manufacturers know this and obviously it is their reason why they prefer to keep boating regulations to a minimum.

Here are a few of the steps that I would recommend for boaters to effectively get started down the real road of safety.

1) There currently exist a good number of regulations pertaining to life jackets and life jacket wear such as; "You are required by law to have an approved life-jacket or PFD on board for each person on a watercraft and they must be readily accessible." Transport Canada should keep today’s laws and the police should do their best job of enforcing them. Adding more regulations is not the smart solution.

2) The boating industry and Transport Canada should ensure that all boaters understand their life jackets. Start with Mr. Archimedes principle -- that any object or person, wholly or partially immersed in a fluid, experiences an upward thrust or buoyancy force, equal to the weight of the fluid that the body displaces. Sadly, for all his understanding of buoyancy, Mr. Archimedes never owned a powerboat. All life jackets today apply his principle by building jackets with sufficient buoyancy to keep a head out of the water and some will even turn you face up. Twenty two pounds of flotation is considered sufficient, but boaters should check the jacket tag before buying to ensure that the buoyancy number covers the person’s actual weight. Boaters should have at least tried the newer inflatable PFDs that are growing in popularity because they are comfortable to wear. Inflatable vest sales tags should be required to inform buyers of more details regarding their use, such as -- they are not approved for use by people under 16 years of age or weighing less than 36.3 kg (80 lbs) and are not counted as a life vest at all unless they are being worn.

3) Transport Canada should establish a quality and standard ‘on water boat driving course’ applicable to most pleasure boats and make it available to all marine boat dealers using an appointment basis similar to the “Clean Marine” dealer program. Such a course would be a hugely beneficial property and it would begin with the appropriate disclaimers as well as a release and enrolment form signed by every student. The course would not be mandatory but treated as a traffic builder for registered dealers. The Canadian Safe Boating Council could develop a protocol for dealers to ensure that the course is rolled out exactly as intended. Dealers should be permitted to subcontract a trained trainer and charge a small fee for providing this course in order to cover the cost of an “on water course completion card” given to the graduate student. Benefits can be added to ensure course popularity, such as insurance discounts. This card would not change or replace the regulations and procedure for a boater to have a PCOC card. For persons purchasing a new or used vessel from a dealer, this valuable course should be offered at no charge. Believe me, boaters will welcome and enjoy a fun, tip based, 3 to 4 hour training course and once boaters begin to acquire the skills to drive a boat correctly we will see a sharp drop in accident statistics.

Fundamental hands-on education and experience go together to make a better boater, and the better a person can drive a boat the safer and more comfortable both he and his passengers will be. Knowing how to handle different boating situations and how to spot in advance, potentially hazardous situations, is far more important than making jacket wear mandatory for everyone. Whatever your sport, you can appreciate tips and guidance, but the fun stops when faced with a wall of regulations. Boat manufacturers know this and accordingly choose to keep boating regulations to a minimum.

4) I always encourage boaters to use a pre-departure checklist before boating. Having key questions on a list can be very useful and I got into the habit of using one for flying. As I get older, I forget just about everything. For life jackets, it’s not only a reminder to tell passengers the location of life jackets, but to evaluate the wisdom in wearing them on the present trip. The pre-trip check asks: Is it a night trip? Wear a jacket. Is it windy? Wear a jacket. Is the water cold? Wear a jacket. Are there young children on board? Wear a jacket. Is the driver alone? Wear a jacket. Will your speed be over 45 mph? Wear a jacket. While the majority of boating scenarios do not call for jacket wear, by using this check list, the people in the boat are assured that smart and realistic situational awareness has been considered. You may question whether a boater can be relied upon to complete a pre-departure check list without being legislated into it? Lets give boaters some credit. They check their fuel level, don’t they? Then there is the example where you exhaust the boat’s bilge for four minutes before starting the engine in order to remove dangerous gas fumes. Few boaters want to blow themselves up, and so they religiously use their blower as required to exhaust explosive gases prior to starting their engine. If before a boater heads out on the water they are reminded on a checklist to evaluate factors that escalate their accident risks, most will make an intelligent life jacket decision, just like they do to clear dangerous fuel fumes. Perhaps a laminated check list should be one of the give-a-ways offered at boat shows by Transport Canada?

One of the more direct questions asked in the current life jacket survey is: "Would you support Transport Canada requiring all recreational boaters to wear PFDs/life-jackets in all circumstances?"

My answer would be, “No”. Such a law would be a stop gap solution at best. Lets move forward with the proper way for boaters to help themselves become better at their sport and fundamentally safer than they seem to be right now. #tips #culture