Dept. of Game, Fish and Parks
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, April 3, 2002
For more information:  Bill Shattuck, 773-4506

BOATERS – DON’T DRINK AND RIDE

PIERRE – Drinking has been a part of boating almost as long as there have been boats. In fact, a lot of boaters would no more leave their cooler of beverages behind than they would their life jackets or anchor. According to state Game, Fish and Parks officials, discouraging the combination of drinking and boating has long been a priority for the state’s boating officers.

Game, Fish and Parks officers working boating enforcement on South Dakota’s lakes and rivers say that many of the boats they check have alcoholic beverages on board, especially during warm weather.

"The risks of operating a high speed boat on a crowded lake, if the operator is impaired, are so obvious," said Boating Safety Specialist Bill Shattuck. "Drunken boat operators have killed and injured themselves or others often enough to be a well-recognized problem. Because of that, there are strict laws and serious penalties for operating while impaired."

What is less well known is that alcohol consumption increases the risk of death for both passengers and operators, even when the boat is stationary. According to a study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which appears in the Dec. 19, 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), most alcohol related boating fatalities do not occur because a drunken driver crashed the boat. The study found that death often occurs regardless of the actions of the boat operator. 

"About half of all deaths occur when the boat is not even moving," says Gordon Smith, MD, lead author of the study. "Drinking while on a boat increases the risk of death in multiple ways. Someone with an elevated blood alcohol concentration is more likely to fall overboard. Once in the water, the chances of drowning are higher, because alcohol can reduce an individual’s ability to rescue oneself, and there is also an increased risk of hypothermia." 

Shattuck added that the study found that a boater with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .10 was ten times more likely to die in an accident than a boater who was not drinking.

"These findings suggest that relying on the safety practice of having a designated driver, which has been so effective in reducing drunken driving deaths, will not provide the same protection to boat passengers who drink," he said. "By and large, South Dakota boaters are not operating or riding drunk. Most people who drink while on the water do so responsibly. But it is important to know that there are risks to drinking while boating, even for passengers".

Shattuck recommended that people who drink on boats do so in moderation, remain seated as much as possible, use handrails when moving about the boat and wear a life jacket. 

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, as many as 80 percent of the persons who die each year in boating accidents would have survived if they had been wearing a life jacket.

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