Table 4-2Recreational Boating Accidents, Fatalities, and Injuries, 2000
Table 4-2
Recreational Boating Accidents, Fatalities, and Injuries, 2000
| Boat type | Boats in accidents | Number of injuries | Drownings | Other fatalities | Total fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airboat | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Auxiliary sail | 432 | 51 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| Cabin motorboat | 1,628 | 408 | 32 | 33 | 65 |
| Canoe/kayak | 159 | 70 | 93 | 11 | 104 |
| Houseboat | 164 | 33 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| Inflatable | 40 | 20 | 15 | 1 | 16 |
| Jet boat | 20 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Open motorboat | 4,318 | 1,957 | 280 | 81 | 361 |
| Personal watercraft | 3,268 | 1,580 | 24 | 44 | 68 |
| Pontoon | 254 | 72 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Rowboat | 65 | 20 | 35 | 3 | 38 |
| Sail (only) | 110 | 22 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| Other | 122 | 29 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| Unknown | 394 | 77 | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Total | 10,984 | 4,355 | 519 | 182 | 701 |
NOTE: These data do not include: 1) accidents involving only slight injury not requiring medical treatment beyond first-aid; 2) accidents involving property damage of $500 or less; 3) accidents not caused or contributed to by a vessel, its equipment, or its appendages; and 4) accidents in which the boat was used solely as a platform for other activities, such as swimming or skin diving. Such cases are not included because the victim freely left the safety of a boat. However, the data do include accidents involving people in the water who are struck by their boat or another boat.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety, Boating Statistics – 2000, available at http://www.uscgboating.org/saf/pdf/boating_statistics_2000.pdf as of October 2001.
- Recreational boating accidents in most years results in far more fatalities than accidents involving commercial waterborne transportation (see table 4-1).
- Most recreational boating accidents and fatalities occurred in open motor boats.