The cooperative efforts of the Coast Guard, Coast Guard Auxiliary, U.S. Power Squadrons, states, and private course providers will go far to ensure this demand is met. In a further expansion of our awareness program, our partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard and the Canadian Safe Boating Council in a joint North American Safe Boating Campaign is in its third year. Nearly 70 percent of recreational boating victims drown, and nearly 90 percent of those drowning victims were not wearing a lifejacket. We have to continue to aggressively get out the message to boaters to wear their lifejacket. A related Coast Guard effort to encourage increased use of lifejackets has been the approval of inflatable PFDs that meet Coast Guard regulations requiring the carriage of lifejackets on board vessels.
Many people complain that traditional lifejackets are too bulky and uncomfortable.
We are hopeful that Coast Guard-approved inflatables will result in more people wearing them at all times while operating their boats. The campaign aims to educate the public about safer and sober boating. Surveys show that most pleasure boaters include alcoholic beverages among their refreshments when boating. When you combine that with sun, wind, vibration and exposure, the effects of alcohol can be greatly heightened. According to Coast Guard research, a boat operator with a blood alcohol concentration above 0.10 is ten times more likely to be killed in a boating accident than a boater with a zero blood alcohol concentration.