Boot Key Harbor
"Marathon- the Heart of the Florida Keys"

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Boating Safety – Personal Responsibility

I just returned from the USPS National meeting in Orlando and had the opportunity to hear the USCG Vice-Admiral address our membership. Also present were the Presidents of NASBLA and NSBC. All of us are safe boating groups. The USCG was very proud to report that boating fatalities have steadily fallen in recent years and were now level at about 800 or so per year. What concerns me is their subsequent statement that the goal was to reduce this to “0. Don’t get me wrong about the USCG though – I’m a big supporter. But think about the goal for a minute. It does sound good when preaching to the cheers of fellow safe boaters. But how does government take the numbers down to O? Regulation. Maybe over-regulation. At some point we all must realize that life involves risks, and though we can certainly minimize them we’re not going to eliminate them unless we isolate ourselves from life in a protected chamber. The proposed USCG rules for PFD use is an example. People drown. Life jackets float. If every boater wore a life jacket every time they were in any type of water in any type of boat, then deaths due to drowning would drop dramatically. Sounds great if you don’t know boating. But do you want to be forced to wear a life jacket every time you get in the dinghy in a quiet harbor to dinghy in 100 yards for dinner in subtropical water? What about the springtime hunter out in a john boat on a swift river in 53 degree water? What about good swimmers in nice water, versus nonswimmers in nasty water? There are obvious differences here and the solution lies not in homogenous governmental over regulation, but in each of us taking personal responsibility for our own actions and safety. Yes we all occasionally make mistakes but that seems to be a reasonable alternative to governmental regulation stripping us of all personal freedoms. It’s a trade off I’m willing to make, and most people I know will make to some degree or the other. We all need to assume responsibility for our own actions in all aspects of boating. For those who are unknowledgeable, education is the answer. Isn’t that what the US Power Squadrons are all about? Let’s educate, not legislate.

Gregory Absten, Commander