Don’t let neglect result in loss of life or limb!
There were 4463 boating accidents reported by the US coast guard in 2016, of which 2903 were personal injuries requiring medical attention. According to the American Boating Association, 701 of those people also died as a result. This is a startling 12% increase in deaths from 2015.
What are the primary reasons people are getting injured on the water? How can boaters keep their friends and family safe? These statistics raise a number of questions that we will discuss, including the true value of boating safety and surprisingly how little it actually costs to stay safe on the water. Adventure Marine can’t tell you how to operate your boat, but we can help protect your friends, family and other innocent boaters from a propeller related accident.
Propellor Injury Statistics
As a maker of Propeller Safety Guards, we were interested in all statistics related to propeller injuries. We discovered that 43% of boating injuries occurred from a strike from a propeller, and 31% occurred from a fall overboard (according to PropellerSafety.com). Operator inattention ranked high on the list of causes and the rest was due to inexperience, skier mishaps, alcohol and reckless driving. How many of these injuries and deaths could have been prevented from the use of a propeller safety guard? By deduction, if 43% off all boating injuries occurred from a propeller hit, it’s probable that installing a guard would greatly reduce this number of injured persons.
The True Cost of Boater Safety
Propeller Safety Guards range in price from $250 to $320 and are made from stainless steel. Therefore, they will likely last the life of your boat. For argument’s sake, let’s take the most expensive model, the 17″ Propeller Safety guard. This guard currently sells for $323.85, and hypothetically let’s say you have your boat for 15 years with a safety guard installed. The cost breaks down to $0.06 per day to protect friends, family, yourself and other boaters from an accidental encounter with your prop. That is a small price to pay to protect loved ones from loss of life or limb. In the professional setting, this protection is also important as a propeller guard can prevent legal action being taken against the injurer. For these reasons and more, you can not afford to protect those in the water around your boat.
To shop for Adventure Marine Propeller Safety Guards click here.
For more statistics on boater safety visit the following websites: