The leading causes of death in boating accidents in Florida must be avoided.
This is because they lead to so much sorrow and pains in the families that have lost their loved ones.
Avoiding such casualties are always easy when the right precautions are taken when boating.
Some of the leading causes of death in boating accidents in Florida include drowning, falling overboard, lack of personal floatation devices, poisoned air, inexperienced boat operator and many more as explained in this guide.
When they occur, there is always bound to be damaged.
This damage occurs to the boat and also to the passengers onboard the boat.
In worse cases, this will result in loss of lives due to death.
That is why great care and attention to safety is very important when boating.
What Is The Leading Causes Of Death In Boating Accidents In Florida
1) Drowning
When it comes to the leading reasons why people die when a boat accident occurs in Florida, drowning is one of the major causes.
When a casualty occurs in a boat, there are damages that are caused.
One of the damages caused is damage to the people in the boat.
Another damage has to do with the damage rendered to the boat.
This could be a mechanical damage or a more fatal damage that involves the body of the boat.
When such damages like this occurs that causes great damage to the body of the boat which leads to the displacement of people on the boat.
This will lead to a lot of people falling into the water.
Some might have their life jacket on them but some may not.
At such point, people that are not with a life jacket may drown easily if the rescue team does not arrive early.
That is why it is very important to always make sure that you wear your life jacket at the very instance you board a boat.
This will help save you from fatal casualties should in case the boat gets involved in an accident.
But when it comes to the placement of life jacket on the boat, it should be placed where it is easily accessible.
This will help reduce the level of casualty sustained in a boat accident.
2) Falling Overboard
When on a boat, it is always very important to make sure that you are well seated.
This is to make sure that you do not stumble or slide especially when you are close to the edge of a boat.
This could lead to a very dangerous casualty if you fall especially when you are very close to the edge of the boat.
In worse cases, this could lead to a man overboard situation.
This is one of the worse situations to face when boating both as a passenger and as a boat operator.
If not handled well, it could lead to loss of life.
It is one of the leading causes of death in boating accidents in Florida.
3) Boat Mechanical Fault
Another thing that causes casualties when boating has to do with some mechanical faults that occur when you use a boat.
Some may lead to the breaking down of the boat while in the water.
Other cases may occur in situations where a boat motor catches fire.
Any of these mechanical faults on a boat are usually very dangerous.
It leads to the delay of the travel time.
At worse cases, it could lead to deadly damages especially when a boat burns while driving.
This could be caused by a burning outboard motor that was not noticed early.
That is why it is always very important to have a pre-departure checklist assessment before a boat embarks on any journey.
It is in such times that a lack of adequate number of fire extinguishers and faulty mechanical parts in the boat is noticed.
If a fire outbreak occurs, the fire extinguisher will be adequate to quench the fire but if it is not sufficient, then the fire will easily render damage to the boat and the passengers.
4) Lack Of Concentration From Boat Operator
Some of the boating accidents in Florida could have been avoided if the person operating the boat did not lose concentration.
Loss of concentration when boating is a very bad thing especially when you are on a water way that is busy with other moving boats.
This can easily lead to collision or other forms of casualties.
That is why the operator of a boat must always be on deck to direct the boat properly.
This will help reduce the frequency of boat accidents in Florida.
5) Poisoned Air
Most of the boats that operate in Florida are boats that use the combustion engine to power the boat.
This leads to the release of toxic gases from the engine of the boat as it operates.
Some of these toxic gases include the carbon monoxide.
Such a gas is very dangerous to the health of humans due to the fact that it causes respiratory problems.
This does not waste time in destroying the life of the passengers in the boat when they are really exposed to it over a long period of time.
That is why a boat must not have a high percentage of carbon monoxide emission.
Apart from that, a boat should be properly ventilated.
This will help in the easy escape of poisonous air.
It will also help in circulating good air within the boat.
With this, the passengers can safely board the boat to their destinations without casualties originating from a poisonous air.
6) Sinking Boat
One of the most important safety procedures to implement when you are making use of a boat is the physical and mechanical condition of the boat.
In some cases, the boat may be very good mechanically but may have some physical damages.
Some of these physical damages include the boat having holes on its body.
When a boat has holes in its body, it is a very bad physical defect that will lead to casualties on the water if not repaired.
One of the common casualties that a boat with holes on the body encounters is sinking.
Sinking is caused when the weight limit of a boat is exceeded through the entrance of water into the boat through the holes in the boat.
This causes an increase in the weight of the boat which continues to increase as the boat is active on the water.
Apart from a boat sinking from the entrance of water through a hole on the body of the boat, it could also be caused by a boat accident.
When a boat accident that is very fatal occurs, it destroys the physical condition of the boat and this leads to the entrance of water into the boat.
As the volume of water increases, it becomes too much for the boat to bear as its weight capacity has been far exceeded.
This leads to the sinking of the boat.
As the boat sinks, it also causes damage to the passengers onboard the boat.
This damage is worse for people who have little to no knowledge when it comes to how to swim.
This is one of the leading causes of death in boating accidents in Florida.
7) Slippery Boat
One of the things to watch out for in a boat especially the commercial ones is the slip resistance of the boat surface.
This cuts across the floor of the boat and the edge of the boat.
When the surface of a boat has a good traction, it helps in avoiding a lot of situations that may lead to a man overboard situation.
But when the surface of a boat is slippery, then the chances of someone slipping is very high.
In such situations, the person may sustain serious injuries as the person may collide with solid objects while falling on the boat.
In worse cases as seen in a lot of times, the person may fall from the boat into the water if the person is too close to the edge of the boat.
This leads to damages to the person.
In a large boat that does not have a good man overboard signal to detect the man overboard situation early, this could result to the death of the person.
That is why giving your boat surface and edges a good traction is very important.
This can be done with the use of seadek boat flooring material.
You can make use of the brushed or the embossed seadek texture when giving a good traction to the floor and edge of your boat.
This will help provide more safety to your passengers when using the boat.
8) Inexperienced Boat Operator
When it comes to making use of a boat, one of the things that should be avoided is handing over a boat to an inexperienced person to operate.
In a lot of cases, this has never gone well.
It usually leads to damages due to the lack of knowledge from the inexperienced boat operator.
In water bodies that are very turbulent, the level of damage sustained may be a lot greater.
That is why driving a boat has to be done by someone that has a good experience of handling the boat.
If you own a boat, you should not proceed to driving it until you have undergone adequate training on how to operate a boat.
This will help you navigate the boat well even when you come in contact with turbulent water current or when the weather is bad.
But if you lack experience and training, you may run into a high level of damage when there is a casualty.
9) High Alcohol Intake
A high level of alcohol intake still stands out as one of the leading causes of death in boat accidents in Florida.
This is not just related to the boat operator but a high volume of alcohol intake also affects the passenger in the boat also.
One of the things that help in attaining a safe boat trip is being in the right state of mind.
This will help you perform at optimum level both as a boat operator and as a passenger.
One of the things you will observe in a person that is drunk is an unbalanced movement when walking.
This is very dangerous when it happens on a boat.
This makes the person not to balance well when walking.
This can cause the person to fall overboard if the person is very close to the edge of the boat when the boat encounters bumpy water waves.
A high alcohol intake also makes the boat operator to misbehave too when operating the boat.
This might show up in situations when a boat driver accelerates the boat more instead of reducing the speed when too close to another boat.
This leads to a collision that causes damage to the boat and the passengers in it.
10) Lack Of Personal Floatation Devices
The damages that are encountered by the people on the boat when a boat casualty occurs depends on how safety inclined they are.
When you board a boat, you have to make sure that you are very safety conscious irrespective of how safe the boat may look or feel.
This cuts across the use of some things like the personal floatation devices when you are on a boat.
When a casualty occurs, the use of some of these personal floatation devices like the life jacket will help reduce the severity of the damage that the person overboard sustains.
But if the person did not wear a life jacket, the injury or damage sustained might be worse.
This is because a lot of the people boarding a boat to travel do not know how to swim.
That is why it is very important that the boat operators keep the personal floatation devices where is it easy to access.
When a casualty sets in, they are usually the first to be affected if they did not make use of a life jacket.
11) Capsizing
Capsizing is one of the casualties that occur on the water when certain things are not done well.
In most of the cases that occur, it is usually the fault of the boat operator when a boat capsizes.
One of the major things that cause a boat to capsize is when there is an uneven distribution of weight on the boat.
Due to this, the weight of the boat will be more focused on one side of the boat.
When the boat is at a high speed and the boat operator makes a sharp turn towards the side that has more of the weight, the boat will easily capsize.
That is why it is very important to make sure that you do not overload a boat when you are making use of it.
Use the data on the capacity plate of the boat located at the deck of the boat to know the maximum weight your boat can safely carry.
Also pay attention to the aerodynamics of your boat to know how it performs with different values of weight at different speed levels.
This will help you avoid the likelihood of your boat capsizing when you are speeding or anytime you are making use of your boat.
12) Bad Weather
A bad weather is another leading cause of death in boating accidents in Florida.
When there is a bad weather, the water will also take a change too.
The water will be more turbulent when there is a bad weather.
This affects the safe use of some types of boat that are not well engineered to thrive in bad weather conditions.
When this occurs, it can lead to some casualties if the operator of the boat cannot navigate the boat properly away from the turbulent waves of the water.
That is why it is always very important to avoid using small boats on larger water bodies where the turbulence of the water is very high when the condition of the weather is bad.
This will help avoid casualties.
When a small boat comes in contact with some of the turbulence that shows up when the weather is very bad, this could lead to the fatal damage of the boat.
In worse cases, a lot of lives will be lost in the process.
13) Boat Accidents
The casualties that lead to the loss of lives during a boating accident in Florida will not be complete if boat accidents is not on the list.
In every place, there are always cases of boat accidents in one way or the other.
Florida is not an exception to this.
In Florida, there are also cases in which an accident occurs when boating.
This usually leads to damages when it occurs.
This damage involves the boat as the parts of the boat will be damaged with mechanical parts damaged too.
Apart from the boat being damaged, a lot of people usually lose their lives due to cases like drowning that also occur when the boat accident occurs.
Boat accident is one of the leading causes of death in boating accidents in Florida.
This is usually a very bad experience as it leads to sorrows in the families that lost their loved ones.