Table 2-47: Recreational Boating Safety, Alcohol Involvement, and Property Damage Data

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	1960	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Fatalitiesa	739	1,360	1,418	1,466	1,360	1,116	865	924	816	800	784	829	709	821	815	734	701	681	750	703	676	697	710	685	709	736	672
Injuries	929	927	780	2,136	2,650	2,757	3,822	3,967	3,683	3,559	4,084	4,141	4,442	4,555	4,612	4,315	4,355	4,274	4,062	3,888	3,363	3,451	3,474	3,673	3,331	3,358	3,153
Accidents	2,738	3,752	3,803	6,308	5,513	6,237	6,411	6,573	6,048	6,335	6,906	8,019	8,026	8,047	8,061	7,931	7,740	6,419	5,705	5,438	4,904	4,969	4,967	5,191	4,789	4,730	4,604
Vessels involved	3,562	4,778	4,762	8,002	6,954	8,305	8,591	8,821	8,206	8,688	9,722	11,534	11,306	11,396	11,368	11,190	10,984	8,974	7,907	7,363	6,725	6,628	6,753	6,932	6,347	6,190	6,062
Numbered boats (thousands)b	2,500	4,138	5,128	7,303	8,578	9,589	10,996	11,068	11,132	11,283	11,430	11,735	11,878	12,313	12,566	12,738	12,782	12,876	12,854	12,795	12,781	12,942	12,746	(R) 12,876	12,693	12,722	12,439
Rates per 100,000 numbered boats
Fatalities	29.6	32.9	27.7	20.1	15.9	11.6	7.9	8.3	7.3	7.1	6.9	7.1	6.0	6.7	6.5	5.8	5.5	5.3	5.8	5.5	5.3	5.4	5.6	5.3	5.6	5.8	5.4
Injuries	37.2	22.4	15.2	29.2	30.9	28.8	34.8	35.8	33.1	31.5	35.7	35.3	37.4	37.0	36.7	33.9	34.1	33.2	31.6	30.4	26.3	26.7	27.3	28.5	26.2	26.4	25.3
Accidents	109.5	90.7	74.2	86.4	64.3	65.0	58.3	59.4	54.3	56.1	60.4	68.3	67.6	65.4	64.1	62.3	60.6	49.9	44.4	42.5	38.4	38.4	39.0	40.3	37.7	37.2	37.0
Accident reports citing alcohol involvementc	N	N	N	N	N	279	568	513	504	381	389	472	601	698	704	633	696	375	357	362	331	402	403	421	387	397	395
Property damage (current $ millions)d	3.2	4.7	8.2	10.4	16.4	20.0	23.8	24.8	34.8	20.2	25.9	21.5	23.2	29.0	31.0	28.9	34.7	31.3	39.2	40.4	35.0	38.7	43.7	53.1	54.3	35.9	35.6

KEY: N = data do not exist; R = revised.

^a The numbers for recreational boating safety fatalities in 2000 are raw numbers. Coast Guard reports a 6% addition as instructed by the DOT Inspector General because it found a discrepancy in a review of the Search and Rescue Management Information System (SARMIS) and BARD data. (See the discussion found in the DOT FY2003 Performance Plan/2001 Performance Report on pg. 135 under data details of recreational boating fatalities, available at http://www.dot.gov/performance/ as of Feb 10, 2010).

^b Numbered boats in 1960 is an estimate.

^c Starting in 2001 only cases where alcohol is determined to be a direct or indirect cause of an accident are reported. Previous years include cases where alcohol was present but played no role in the accident.

^d 1992 data includes $11 million damage due to a boat fire.

NOTES

Only a small fraction of property damages and nonfatal accidents are reported to the U.S. Coast Guard.

On July 2, 2001, the Federal threshold of property damage for reports of accidents involving recreational vessels changed from $500 to $2,000.

SOURCE

Vessels involved for 1960 and 1965, and property damage for 1994 and 1995:

U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard (CG), Office of Boating Safety, personal communication, May 15, 2002.

All other data:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, Office of Boating Safety, Boating Statistics (Washington, DC: Annual Issues), tables 8, 9, 16, 28, 30 and 35, available at http://www.uscgboating.org/statistics/accident_statistics.aspx as of Aug. 9, 2011.