Good morning, Chairman Kaufert and Members of the Committee.  It is a pleasure to discuss the National Transportation Safety Board’s recreational boating safety recommendation addressing the use of personal flotation devices (lifejackets) for children.

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress to investigate transportation accidents, determine their probable cause, and make recommendations to prevent their recurrence.  The Safety Board has neither regulatory authority nor grant funds.  The recommendations that arise from our investigations and safety studies are our most important product.  In our 40-year history, more than 80 percent of our recommendations have been adopted by organizations and government bodies in a position to effect improvements in transportation safety.

Recreational boating result in the greatest number of transportation fatalities after highway accidents, even exceeding fatalities from aviation accidents.  In 2005, 697 persons were killed in boating accidents in this country.  An American Red Cross survey indicates that more than 355,000 persons are injured annually from recreational boating accidents, and more than 40 percent of the injuries require medical treatment beyond first aid.  The number of recreational boats and the speed at which they operate have increased in recent years.

As a result of its concern regarding the number of boating deaths and injuries, the Safety Board in 1993 conducted a study of recreational boating accidents and their causes.  Examining recreational boating accidents that occurred in 18 States in 1991, the Board reviewed information on 407 fatal recreational boating accidents, which resulted in 478 fatalities.  These accidents represented about 52 percent of the accidents and about 52 percent of the fatalities that occurred in 1991.  The Safety Board also reviewed U.S. Coast Guard data and studies performed by other organizations.  Further, the Board investigated three recreational boating accidents from 1992 in which 13 persons died, including 4 children and 2 teenagers. The minimal use of personal flotation devices (PFDs) that we found in our investigations of fatal recreational boating accidents was particularly notable. 

The failure to use PFDs can have fatal consequences.  And, states should require greater use of PFDs, especially among children

Failure to use PFDs is the leading cause of recreational boating drowning fatalities.  Of the 478 fatalities that occurred in the accidents examined in our 1993 study, 351 resulted from drowning.  Of those who drowned and for whom information on PFD use was available, 85 percent (281) did not wear PFDs.  The Safety Board reviewed the circumstances of the 281 drownings in which the victims were not wearing a PFD and determined that as many as 238 persons (85 percent) may have survived had they been correctly wearing a PFD.  Only a few factors can negate the effectiveness of PFDs, most often hypothermia and injury as a result of blunt trauma force. 

The 2005 boating experience again confirmed the importance of PFD use.  According to U.S. Coast Guard boating accident statistics, nearly 87 percent of the fatalities who drowned in recreational boating accidents in 2005 could have survived if they had taken the simple step of wearing a lifejacket.  Drownings accounted for 491, or nearly 70 percent, of the 697 recreational boating fatalities in 2005.  PFDs could have prevented an estimated 426 of the 491 fatalities from drowning or 87 percent of those fatalities. There is no question that wearing a PFD can save your life.

One accident in Arkansas that the Safety Board investigated highlights the Board’s concerns.  At about 11:30 on a Sunday morning, a 9-person family boarded a family-owned boat at a public boat launching area on the Fourche La Fave River near Perryville, Arkansas.  The family, which included a man, a woman, and children ranging in age from 16 months to 14 years, intended to go down the river to fish from the bank.  The man and a 12-year-old girl were the only persons on board who could swim.

Although weather conditions were ideal, the boat and the passengers were not adequately prepared for potential problems.  The weather was clear and 90 degrees.  Visibility was good, and there were only light winds.  The 14-foot long aluminum boat was open, flat-bottomed, and not equipped with PFDs.  With a 9.9-horsepower outboard motor, the motorboat fell under the Arkansas exemption, which did not require motorboats of less than 10 horsepower to carry PFDs.  The passengers, who also did not wear PFDs, sat on four bench seats.  At the site of the accident, the river was approximately 80 feet wide, and its depth at the center varied from 9 to 50 feet.

As the boat headed downstream, water splashed on the boy and girl who were sitting in the front seat.  They moved rearward, causing the boat to flood.  It sank in the middle of the river, in about 14 feet of water, and about 100 feet downstream from the boat launching area.  The 12 year-old girl swam to shore, and a 14 year-old girl supported herself in the water by holding onto the bow of the boat, which remained above the surface.

Two fishermen, who arrived at the boat-launching area shortly after the accident, found the 12-year-old on the riverbank and the 14-year-old holding onto the boat.  The men entered the water and brought the 14-year-old ashore.  One rescuer searched the riverbank for more survivors.  He found an unconscious 4-year-old in the water, near the riverbank, in the approximate area of the accident.  Although he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the child was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital.  Officials started a search, and found five other victims that day and one the next day.  Five children and two adults died in this one accident.

The Safety Board’s investigation of this accident concluded that the lack of PFDs contributed to the loss of these seven lives.
           
Another brief example shows the effectiveness of PFDs.  Three men launched a small inflatable raft on the Arkansas River near Swissvale, Colorado.  A Colorado State park ranger had spotted the three men at one point.  Observing that one rafter was not wearing a PFD, the ranger contacted the men.  After determining that the raft carried the correct number of PFDs, the park ranger recommended that the remaining rafter also wear his PFD.  The rafter asked if he was legally required to wear a PFD and was told that he was not, whereupon he did not put it on, despite the fact that he could not swim.

After traveling about 2 miles, the men started through a rapid.  Their raft was thrown sideways, hit a small rock, and capsized, throwing all three men into the water.  Two men wearing PFDs struggled and eventually reached the riverbank.  The third man, who had earlier refused to use a PFD, drowned.

State and federal laws require that all boats have life jackets on board.  The problem is that they do not work if no one is wearing them.  As with many accidents in which boats capsize or persons fall overboard, people don’t think to put them on until it’s too late. This is why the Safety Board has recommended that the States consider minimum standards to reduce the number and severity of boating accidents by recommending that PFD use by children be made mandatory.  Requiring children to wear PFDs could, over time, result in more adults who wear PFDs, such as occurred with the use of child safety seats and safety belts in automobiles. 

Currently, 46 States, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands  and Puerto Rico have some type of PFD use requirement for children.  The Safety Board would like to see Wisconsin become the 47th State to do so.  The Safety Board considers recreational boating safety and the issue of children in PFDs (life jackets) so important that we have included this issue on our 2007 “Most Wanted” transportation safety improvements list as one of the areas where critical changes are needed to reduce unnecessary loss of life.  I have provided this brochure and a recent “Safety Alert” for your review.

Assembly Bill 45, the measure before you, would require children 12 years old or younger to wear a PFD on vessels less than 26 feet in length while underway. The proposed section would not apply if the child who is below the deck or in a cabin space.  This bill is consistent with other States’ requirements. The U.S. Coast Guard, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, and the American Academy of Pediatrics support children under age 13 wearing PFDs (life jackets).  Enacting this legislation would be an important step toward making boating safer for the children of Wisconsin, as well as providing a more uniform national program for the safety of all children. Thus, the National Transportation Safety Board is pleased to support Assembly Bill 45.

Thank you for providing the National Transportation Safety Board an opportunity to testify about this important safety initiative.  I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.