Page 35 - Discover Summer 2023
P. 35
SUMMER SAFETY!
SML's Recreational Boating Report Card
The Virginia Recreational Boating • There were 17 fatalities state-wide with
Incident “report card” for the 2022 calendar 16 not wearing or using a Life Jacket. The
year is on the street and bears a quick look to highest fatality age group was 56 and over.
let boating lovers take measure. The highest percentage of fatalities occurred
in cold weather/cold water months. (Our
A reportable boating incident is broken
residents, bass and striper fishermen should
down by body of water that involves a death,
identify with this one.)
missing person, injury requiring more than
first aid, or property damage of $2000 or Take-aways to think about as we walk down
more. There are always incidents and “close- to the dock:
calls” on SML that don’t
• No brainer; everyone wear
make the criteria.
a life jacket. If you intend
In summary: not to wear one let your
spouse/significant-other read
• The highest incident
this article and then tell them
months were May through
“No life jackets for me and
September. (Right now!)
the kids!” Drop us a line and
• We (SML) had the highest let us know how that goes.
number of incidents in 2022.
• If you are the boat’s
While we had no fatalities
“operator”, just be responsible
(by the grace of God), the
and sober. Take a spotter
injury and property damage levels were
if skiing/tubing/surfing so you can pay
very high. (We have sadly already had two
attention to driving your vessel. Stay away
fatalities this year.)
from creeks , coves, points of land and
• Collisions (vessel-to-vessel and vessel- congested areas.
to-obstruction) and capsizing were the top
• Slow down at night and become very
incident types state-wide.
familiar with all of your surroundings and
• Improper operation of a vessel was the the Rules of the Road before you pick up
chief contributing factor caused largely by your speed.
operator inexperience and not maintaining a
• In the last three years we have gained a
proper lookout.
significant number of our population who
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