By Larry Copeland
Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — As the summer boating season enters full swing, states are moving to curtail a peril on the water - boating while intoxicated.
Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents involving the nation’s 12.4 million registered boats, the U.S. Coast Guard said. There were 126 fatalities and 293 injuries in 330 alcohol-related boating accidents across the country in 2010.
“It’s starting to get recognized that boating while intoxicated is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated,” said Lt. Cody Jones of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “You’re in a 1-ton vehicle, but this vehicle doesn’t have brakes, and there’s no lane of traffic or stop sign to direct you.”
In Illinois, the Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police arrested 12 boaters for operating under the influence over the Memorial Day holiday.
Last year in Illinois, six of the 16 boating deaths were caused by drinking, according to the department. Authorities made 204 arrests for operating a watercraft under the influence last year.
For a first offense, punishment can include up to six months in jail and a $2,500 fine; second offenses can carry one to three years in jail and a $25,000 fine, department spokeswoman Stacey Solano said.
“Just as impaired driving puts you and others on the road at risk, boaters operating watercraft under the influence are also a danger to themselves, their passengers, and other boaters,” Rafael Gutierrez, law enforcement chief for the department said in a statement.
Wisconsin officials said operating a boat while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs contributes to nearly 20 percent of recreational boating fatalities.
In 2009, 38 percent of boating fatalities involved alcohol and the average blood alcohol content in those fatalities was 0.227 percent - nearly three times the legal limit, Wisconsin officials said.
Many recreational boaters don’t realize that stress factors associated with boating - heat, direct sunlight, vibration, wind and noise - magnify the effects of alcohol, experts said.
“Alcohol has more of an impact out there,” said Maj. Chris Huebner, North Carolina’s state boating safety coordinator. “It can take as little as one-third the alcohol on the water as on land to be impaired.”
Starting July 1, Iowa will lower the blood-alcohol limit for boat operators from .10 to .08.
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