OPERATION DRY WATER-BOAT SOBER-WEAR A LIFE VEST
July 4th is around the corner. Many of you will be taking your boats our for the first time this season. You’re a bit boat rusty-don’t add being drunk or high to the mix. Make those awesome summer memories with your friends and family safelly. You’re the Captain, it’s your duty to bring everyone home safe. Take it seriously.
Every waterway in Washington will have extra patrols starting this week. If you’re drunk and boating the nicest thing that will happen to you is an arrest. PLEASE BOAT SOBER.
Operation Dry Water is making sure that boater safety is a nationally coordinated effort. Operation Dry Water was launched nationally by NASBLA in 2009. In partnership with the US Coast Guard, their one goal was to lower boating deaths through education, awareness, training and enforcement. Since it’s inception, over 5000 intoxicated boaters have been removed from our nation’s waterways, and thousands more just said no to being drunk or high while driving a boat.
Here are some facts from Operation Dry Water to chew on:
Ø U.S. Coast Guard 2020 data reveal that alcohol use remains the primary known contributing factor recreational boater deaths.
Ø Operating a boat with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 or higher is against federal law and most state laws.
Ø Alcohol can impair a boater’s judgment, balance, vision, and reaction time. It can also increase fatigue and susceptibility to the effects of cold-water immersion. (ie you drown quicker)
Ø Sun, wind, noise, vibration, and motion – “stressors” common to the boating environment – intensify the side effects of alcohol, drugs, and some medications.
Ø Impairment can be even more dangerous for boaters than for drivers, since most boaters have less experience and confidence operating a boat than they do driving a car.
And the biggie—-86% of people who drowned in a recreational boating accident were not wearing a life jacket.
BOAT SOBER-WEAR A LIFE VEST-BOAT SAFELY
#boatersafety
Source:https://www.facebook.com/kentpolicedepartment/posts/pfbid02nQFEz5r5ei8hkjfjkWbPBY3QJLjSRKHhEQK3X5aBoH46nTofA3dhAftsjq5SR82al
