Locks 3 . Dams 4 . Security 5 . One-third of all boating fatalities are alcohol related. It is illegal to operate a boat, or to permit others to do so, while under the influence of alcohol, narcotics, or barbiturates.
Alcohol can decrease a person's ability to handle a boat in many ways.
As a depressant, alcohol goes straight to the nerves, blood stream, and the brain. As recreational boaters it is hard enough to remember all the rules, regulations, boat handling techniques, etc. while lucid. Eroding sense of balance - Most boating deaths result from falling out of a small open boat, without a PFD, whether it capsizes or not. Color perception and peripheral vision deteriorate and at night depth perception decreases. You can imagine what happens if you can't distinguish between the red and green markers or red and green lights of an oncoming vessel at night.