Facts
 |
Delta Facts
- More than 700 miles of navigable waterways.
- Haven for hundreds of thousands of boaters each year.
- Provides the best of many forms of recreation: skiing, windsurfing, sailing or just plain cruising.
- Due to its’ popularity, the Delta has one of the state’s highest accident rates.
- A total of 10 percent of all California boating accident occur in the Delta alone, which makes it one of the state’s “hot spots."
- In 2007, there were 83 accidents, 47 injuries, and 4 deaths.
- Contributing factors: speed, alcohol, and not wearing life jackets.
Life Jacket Facts
- U.S. Coast Guard’s 2006 statistics stated that approximately 87 percent of boaters who drowned were not wearing life jackets.
- This means that over 400 boaters died unexpectedly because they were uninformed or simply not in the habit of taking this significant safety precaution.
- It is human nature to think it can’t happen to me--but it can.
- The majority of people who drown in boating accidents know how to swim, but become incapacitated in the water.
- Sometimes they are injured or unconscious.
- Others develop hypothermia or become exhausted.
- Some are weighed down by clothing.
- An accident usually happens without warning.
- Usually after the accident, the life jackets are not within reach--in cabinets, trapped under the vessel, floating far away in the water.
- Other reasons why people don’t wear a life jacket are that it is too hot, or it will mess up their tan line, or they are simply not comfortable.
- Many people don’t realize the variety of new life jackets that are on the market--belt packs and other inflatable styles that are low profile and light weight.
- It is important to wear a life jacket at all times while boating.
CA Wear Rate Study
Check out the the 2007 "Wear It California!" survey results! The results are based on the individuals that received free life jackets after signing a Pledge Card to always "Wear It!" This informative Power Point presentation is an assessment of the success of the 2007 "Wear It California!" Campaign on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
|
|
|
