Drowning and hypothermia deaths. Boating safety course and accidents linked by person. Additional evaluation needed. Citations used as a proxy for law enforcement presence. Mild inverse relationship between number of safety course graduates per parish and number of annual reported boating accidents in that parish.
Law enforcement has a much weaker effect on preventing accidents than did safety course.
Slightly positively correlated with accident site, suggesting correct disbursement of funds. Accidents not linked to persons. Number of accidents probably underestimated. For the moment, there is no reason to suspect that a boating safety programs might increase the number of incidents and submersions except that more incidents may actually be reported. Time and cost commitments are probably the most important determinants in deciding to enroll in a boating safety course.