The death of a 4-year-old emphasizes the need for boating safety.
Texans own close to a million recreational boats — about 600,000 registered power vessels and an estimated 300,000 canoes, kayaks and other humanpowered watercraft exempt from state registration.
More of them are likely to be on Texas public waters during the coming nine days than during any other similar period of the year as boaters take advantage of the days bracketing the July Fourth holiday to spend time fishing or just cruising on the state’s rivers, reservoirs and coastal waters. In a recent survey by Boat Owners Association of The United States of its half-million members, 88 percent said they were “very or extremely likely” to go boating between June 30 and July 9.
All of those boaters and their passengers are looking forward to the experience. And who wouldn’t? After all, what’s more fun that spending time on the water on a summer day? It’s the stuff of many a summer daydream.
But some of those boaters will see that dream mutate into a nightmare, and others will have what they expected to be a carefree day on the water turn into a costly and potentially lifechanging lesson in the laws governing boating.
The week bracketing July Fourth traditionally sees the highest number of boating-related accidents of the year, and often the highest number of fatalities. And because of that painful truth, the week also will see a significant surge in federal, state and local law enforcement officers patrolling public waters, focusing on preventing accidents and enforcing applicable water safety laws and regulations.
These points underscore the importance — the crucial responsibility — boaters have to know and practice safe boating behavior and make certain they follow laws governing safety equipment required on their vessel. The cost of ignoring either can be high.
Sobering reminder
A horrific example of what can happen when basic safe boating and water safety rules are breached came just a week ago, and it serves as a sobering reminder of why those rules and laws are in place.
This past Friday afternoon, a father and his 4-year-old daughter were in the water adjacent to a park on the shore of Lake Belton near Temple. Reports are that the pair were wading/swimming back to shore when the operator of a houseboat that had been parked along the shore put the vessel’s engines in reverse and began backing toward open water. A witness reported yelling to the houseboat operator that there were people in the water behind him, but the warning was not effective. The boat operator later told police he could not see behind the boat.
The 4-year-old, who was wearing a life jacket, was either backed over or the current created by the reversing engines sucked her beneath the boat and into the inboard-powered houseboat’s spinning propellers.
Her frantic father followed her under the boat in an attempt to rescue her.
The 4-year-old died of injuries caused by the propellers. Her 37-year-old father lost both of his legs to the spinning propellers.
The 44-year-old man at the helm of the houseboat has been charged with criminal negligent homicide, a state jail felony.
Scenarios similar to the one that led to the tragic incident at Lake Belton are guaranteed to arise over the coming days as hundreds of thousands of Texans head to the lakes, rivers and bays. Many will occur around boat ramps.
Signs prohibiting swimming and fishing are posted at almost every public boat ramp and adjacent docks. And even if they weren’t, common sense says such activities are incompatible and unsafe where a constant stream of boaters are launching, maneuvering and retrieving their vessels.
But some people ignore the law and logic. And the problem is especially evident on major holidays such as July Fourth when Texans, especially families, flock to the water.
Boaters encountering swimmers in around boat ramps and adjacent “courtesy” docks can face an extremely dangerous and often touchy situation. Convincing swimmers to clear the launch area can lead to arguments. But launching and running a boat in water surrounded by swimmers who often seem to have little understanding of the danger posed by a spinning propeller is not an option. If you can’t launch, maneuver or put the boat back on its trailer safely, don’t do it.
There might be another option to addressing unsafe situations around boat ramps. Get law enforcement involved. And finding a law enforcement officer on Texas waters will be a lot easier than normal over the coming days.
Beginning June 30 and continuing through July 2, law enforcement agencies that focus on enforcing boating and water safety laws will be involved in Operation Dry Water, and annual effort to enhance boating safety by saturating public waters with officers.
In Texas, Operation Dry Water is multi-agency cooperative program involving most of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s 500-plus game wardens, several local sheriff ’s departments and the U.S. Coast Guard. The focus of the enhanced patrols is enforcement of boatingwhile-intoxicated laws; alcohol is the leading factor in fatal boating-related incidents and a top contributing factor in all boating accidents. But officers also will be enforcing all boating safety laws, including checking for required boating safety equipment.
Boating while intoxicated is an especially pernicious problem around July Fourth, when some boaters believe they can’t enjoy the day without drinking to excess. During the week surrounding this past July Fourth, Texas game wardens arrested and charged 63 boat operators with BWI.
Wardens, sheriffs and the Coast Guard filed scores of citations for other boating law violations.
Don’t forget jackets
The most common violations involve insufficient number of life jackets or violation of life jacket laws pertaining to children. State and federal laws mandate a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket must be onboard and easily accessible for every person on the vessel. And in boats less than 26 feet long, a child younger than 13 years old must wear the jacket whenever the boat is underway.
Federal and state laws also list several items of safety equipment that must be on most powered boats. They include items such as a Coast Guard approved throwable life-saving device, fire extinguisher, sound-producing device (whistle or horn) and, for those in boats 16 feet or longer on coastal waters, visual distress signals.
Count on a couple of those devices — the fire extinguisher and visual distress signalling devices — to get some boaters a citation over the coming week. Both devices have to be in working order and not past their expiration date. Boaters who don’t regularly check their fire extinguisher can be surprised with a warden or Coast Guard member inspects the device and finds its gauge says it has lost its charge.
The same applies to the marine flares most boaters use to satisfy the visual distress signalling devices federal water safety laws require on most coastal waters. Those flares have expiration dates printed on them; most are good for only a couple of years after purchase. Many coastal boaters stopped and checked by Coast Guard crews have learned this financially painful lesson.
If a citation and fine is the most pain boaters violating a water safety law suffers over the coming week, they can consider themselves lucky. With hundreds of thousands of Texas boaters on the water during the coming week or so, some are almost certain to suffer much, much worse.
Be safe out there. It really can be a matter of life and death.