Boating deaths in N.J. rose last year

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rommer

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Coast Guard figures show New Jersey bucked a national trend of record low recreational boating deaths in 2010. Eight people died in boating accidents in the Garden State last year, two more than in 2009. There have been no deaths this year. Fatalities fell nationally to a record low of 672, four fewer than the previous low in 2004. The Press of Atlantic City reports the Coast Guard believes boating safety courses and inspections helped reduce the number of deaths on the water. However, the decline could reflect fewer boaters. The number of registered boats in the U.S. decreased 2 percent last year to 12.4 million. The Coast Guard also reports the number of adults who wear life jackets is at an all-time low.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/boating_deaths_in_nj_rose_last.html

Just read the full CG report, linked at the website above, and 84% of all accidents involved an operator with no training. I'm not for mandatory training/licensing but I do try to advise new boaters to take at least a basic water safety class.
 
what percent of operators in jersey had training? Without knowing that number, the 84% is meaningless. If 84% of the operators in the state had no training, and 84% of the operators involved in a fatality had no training, than we have proof that training is useless- and if 90% had no training, that would prove training costs lives{:. And how many more people hours were spent boating in 2010 as compared to 2009 - if it was significantly more, and only two more people died - perhaps 2010 was a safer year than 2009?

I'm not against boater training, I might even be in favor of mandatory training or certification - but it irks me when the CG throws these meaningless numbers around.
 
I agree with your point but the fact remains that country wide 84% of boating accidents involved untrained operators.
 
What do they mean by trained? All NJ boaters are required to take a state mandated boaters course and pass a safe boating test (or have and be able to prove expreience/training elsewhere).

btw...I am not saying that taking this state course and passing the test is enough to claim 'trained'.
 
86% of fatal car accidents involve sober drivers - does driving sober cause fatal crashes ? I don't mean to be argumentative here, but until we know what percent of people on the water who did not have accidents were 'trained' 84% is an absolutely useless statistic.

Common sense would dictate that operator training would reduce accidents, especially when you read the accident reports, but as Dominic said, are these 84% in Jersey illegals?
 
Did you bother to read the CG report? The training/non-trained is broken down in more detail in the report, ie types of training courses including online courses. Again, I understand your point but in reading the CG report it really seems to support the conclusion that untrained operators are much more likely to be involved in accidents on the water and that they in fact do account for a higher share. As an aside, none of the fatal accidents were caused by operators who had taken an online course and no, I don't believe that implies that online courses are better. Just pointing out how I agree that numbers and stats can be interpreted anyway one wants to push them without having all the data such as sample sizes, etc...

Isn't the NJ requirement for mandatory training for PWC's and is being phased in for regular boat operators over time?
 
quote:
Originally posted by rommer

....Isn't the NJ requirement for mandatory training for PWC's and is being phased in for regular boat operators over time?

Click to expand...

When NJ first instituted the requirement, it was phased in according to the age of the boater....from younger to older. The phase in period has been completed. As of today....ALL NJ boaters are mandated to prove that they have taken and passed the necessary course work.
 
86% of fatal car accidents are by sober drivers - I better start drinking.
 
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