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Recreational boating fatalities in the States, five U. S. Territories, and the District of Columbia dropped to a record low of 716 in 1996, down from 851 in 1995, but then rose in 1997 to 819, according to recently released numbers from the CG Recreational Boating Accident Report Database (BARD). In addition, personal watercraft deaths were down from 79 in 1995 to 54 in 1996, but then rose to an all time high of 84 in 1997.

According to BARD, there were 8,044 recreational boating accidents reported in 1997; the most ever.

Compared to 1996:

• Forty-six more fatalities occurred with the use of kayaks and canoes
• 27 more fatalities on PWCs for an all time high of 84
• 104 more fatalities occurred with use of boats under 26 feet in length
• 100 more people died by capsizing their boat or falling overboard
• 32 more fatalities were the result of use of alcohol
• 86 more boaters drowned in 1997 than in 1996, totalling 586. Nine out of ten were not wearing a life jacket.
• 87 more fatalities were reported on boats where the operator had not completed a boating safety education course

Personal Watercraft Statistics

YEAR	PWC'S IN USE**	PWC ACC.	PWC INJ.	PWC FATALITIES
1987	92,756	376	156	5
1988	126,881	650	254	20
1989	178,510	844	402	20
1990	241,376	1,162	532	28
1991	305,915	1,513	708	26
1992	372,283	1,650	730	34
1993	454,545	2,236	915	35
1994	600,000	3,002	1,338	56
1995	760,000	4,028	1,631	68
1996	900,000	4,091	1,831	57
1997		4,070	1,812	84
TOTALS		23,622	10,309	433

*Estimates from the National Marine Manufacturers Assoc.
**Estimates from the Personal Watercraft Industry Assoc.

Some General Statistics

Year	1995	1996	1997
No. Vessels	11,283	11,285	not yet avail.
No. Accidents	7,863	8,005	8,044
No. Injuries	4,064	4,427	4,555
No. Fatalities	830	709	819
Drownings w/PFDs	68	60	59
Drownings w/o PFDs	561	440	527
% of Fatalities where operator had no boater education	89%	85%	84%

Recreational Boating Accident Causes

Year	1995	1996	1997
TYPE OF ACCIDENT	NO. FATALS	NO. FATALS	NO. FATALS
Capsizing	256	207	245
Collision w/fixed object	58	32	56
Collision w/floating object	5	14	13
Collision w/vessel	87	77	80
Fall in boat	4	4	6
Falls overboard	215	181	243
Fire/explosion	3	3	2
Flooding/swamping	51	42	42
Grounding	5	10	15
Sinking	20	27	23
Skier mishap	10	3	8
Struck by boat	5	11	8
Struck by prop	2	5	1
Other/unknown	96	93	77

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