Very rarely are deaths more preventable than the ones that come about every summer through recreational boating. Unfortunately for Ontario’s cottage country region last summer, a dozen such deaths occurred in the first week of August.
These tragedies were quite preventable, and share particular themes, such as: people driving boats they are unfamiliar with too fast , people drinking too much and going on swimming trips no sober person would dream of, and people doing stuff after sunset that should simply be avoided.
Specific incidents included: a man tossed from a boat on Lake Muskoka, another victimized by a flipped boat on Lake Simcoe, three men swept away when they attempted to traverse unseasonably fast river water, and two men who died when their canoe capsized after midnight. A Toronto Star reporter goaded a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation into saying that a nation-wide law requiring all boaters to wear life jackets was a possible response to last summer’s string of tragedies. Presumably, that spokesperson got in trouble for suggesting something so silly out loud. Fortunately, the idea has not moved forward.
Regardless of how many people died last year, will die this year, or will die at any point in future boating-related accidents, mandating that every single passenger in a boat in Canada wear a life jacket is an incomprehensibly absurd and flat-out stupid idea.
The law would be brutally unenforceable given Canada’s more than three million lakes and nearly nine million recreational boaters. Recreational boaters like me rarely see a police boat, and since we do not need to wear a life jacket for our safety, we wouldn’t likely abide by any such law. Nor presumably would many of the people who die in preventable boating accidents wear have worn life jackets. Finally, those who die in preventable boating accidents would not follow such a law if they’re already inclined to do the things that led to their deaths.
Regardless of what happened in the past and what may happen in the future, mandatory lifejackets are about the worst possible solution to boating-related deaths. Anyone – be they a boater or not – who hears someone seriously suggest this should laugh at, and then systematically refute their absurd suggestion.
What now, though? How can we cut down on preventable boating deaths, most of which kill people who are relatively young? The answer lies in constantly reminding ourselves that boating safety is both a collective and individual responsibility, and shaping our actions accordingly. Most of these extend from common sense, but a few refreshers never hurt.
We won’t captain a boat if we’ve been drinking. We won’t leave the dock unless we’ve mastered both the boat we’re driving and the lake we’re using it on. We won’t get in a boat with someone who has been drinking or doesn’t seem to be sure what they’re doing. We won’t go on any unplanned excursions after dark to areas we’re unfamiliar with, especially if we’ve been drinking. We won’t do things that would make our mothers cringe – too hard, anyways – and never, ever, if we’ve been drinking. We’ll always bear in mind the summer creed of Rock 95, which provides the soundtrack to much of our time up north – water on the water, beer on the pier. We’ll regularly ask ourselves if we know what to do if something goes wrong, and if we don’t know, we’ll immediately back out of the situation.
Finally, we won’t overreact and suggest mandating life jackets for everyone everywhere if someone disobeys these laws of common sense and winds up a drowning fatality this summer. Unfortunately, are bound to happen. Just make sure it’s not yourself or one of your loved ones.
