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SAFETY BOARD TO HOLD FORUM ON PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICES

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Washington, D. C. -The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public forum to discuss mandatory wear of personal flotation devices (PFD) on recreational boats, NTSB Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners has announced. The one-day forum will begin at 9:00 am on August 25, 2004 at the NTSB Academy in Ashburn, VA.

The purpose of the forum is to gather all available data, and to promote an open and informative discussion of policy issues related to mandatory PFD use. The Safety Board has a long history of working to improve recreational boating safety. It has been on the Board's "Most Wanted" list of transportation safety improvements since its inception in 1990.

"The Board has made a solid commitment to advance recreational boating safety by all means available to our agency," said Chairman Engleman Conners. "A public forum will be an excellent mechanism to bring together agencies and organizations to identify solutions that will improve public safety in recreational boating."

Coast Guard statistics show that 750 boaters died in 2002. Eighty-five percent of those who drowned were not wearing PFDs, even though in many cases, PFDs were aboard. These statistics have been consistent from year to year and Coast Guard statistics show that approximately 450 lives could be saved each year if the victims wore PFDs. The Safety Board wants to build on this information and other data available to evaluate the safety benefits of mandatory wearing of PFDs on recreational boating.

Currently, most States require PFD wear for children and for personal watercraft operators. No State requires PFD wear for all occupants. Yet six years of observational studies by the Coast Guard show that less than 5% of adults in open boats wear PFDs.

Some of the issues discussed at the forum will be:

The impact of federal and/or state legislation mandating wearing of PFDs on recreational boats
Various vessels and type of operation that should be included in or exempted from mandatory wear rules
New PFD technology
Alternatives to mandatory wear rules

Registration details for the forum and directions to the Academy may be found on the Board's website at www.ntsb.gov.

NTSB Media Contact: Keith Holloway, (202) 314-6100
[email protected]

John NY

Last year or late 2002 they federally mandated that children under 13(?) must wear a PFD whenever a boat is in motion, unless they are in a cabin/below deck. I thought this was the Coast Guard that mandated it.

It's ridiculous to require across the board wearing of PFD's for adults. This would slam boat sales for sure.

Having said that good quality inflatable vests are not a big deal to wear. Last weekend I satisfied my curiosity to see just how fast one of the auto-inflate one's would inflate. I jumped in and let myself sink and in between 2-3 seconds it was inflating and I was floating in no time. Thought it would have taken much longer.

John

dlbCheckmate

We wear them whenever we are on plane, thats our personal choice. At first I did not like it, but I got a life line poker run model and it fits good and keeps me safe. My life is worth more than the hassel of wearing it. Although we still need to carry the crazy "coast Guard" approved versions. My .02

hugetime1

boy that will make for some stupid looking tans!!!!!!!

Cord

iTrader: (2)

450 people per year, is not that many. I wonder how many die from cancer or drunk driving?

Dock Holiday

Me to.

btrig

Yearly cancer deaths are always above 500,000.

~18,000 dead in alcohol related automobile accidents in 2002. ~43,000 total automobile fatalities that year. I wonder when they will be holding a forum on mandatory helmet use for automobile occupants

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/...crashstatistics.pdf

hugetime1

so they should just chulk up 450 as natural selection

rfweber

Ok in Florida you have to wear seat belts in cars !!!!!
But you don't have to wear helmets on motorcycles !!!!!!

Now lets FU-- with BOATERS !!!! Nice.........

zzzzzz

Just more governmental regulations B.S. let's see no smoking,helmet laws,seat belt laws, emmisions regulations,special licenses,ect, ect, and it's all insurance driven and so the MAN can have an excuse to pull you over. Its getting to be a little too much now.OK I feel better