DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio is stepping up its boating patrols
with a focus on impaired boaters after tying for third nationally in
alcohol-related boating accidents last year.
The U.S. Coast Guard
says Ohio tied with Illinois with 18 alcohol-related accidents last year
and trailed only Florida and Wisconsin, which had 25 and 19
respectively, the Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/O3iefA) reported
Saturday. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of
Watercraft is joining units throughout the nation this weekend in
Operation Dry Water, an effort to increase or concentrate patrols in
problem areas to watch for impaired boating.
Alcohol is the
leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, and was the
leading factor in 16 percent of recreational boating deaths last year,
according to the Coast Guard. Alcohol was a factor in five boating
deaths and 21 injuries in Ohio in 2011.
Boating impairment also is
increasingly involving drug use as well as alcohol use, said Todd
Doncyson, law enforcement administrator for the Division of Watercraft.
"We’re
not out to ruin a person’s good time, but we’re talking about serious
risk," Doncyson said. "It’s not always the operator, sometimes it’s
someone falling overboard. So many people can be affected."
Division
of Watercraft officials said alcohol use in boating is different than
in driving for several reasons, including the number of environmental
factors involved in operating a boat.
"With a car, most people
know how to operate the vehicle, so the keys can be given to someone
else," said Lance Hopkins, the Division of Watercraft’s area supervisor
for the Cincinnati field office. "If someone takes a bunch of friends
out on a boat, a lot of times no one else on that boat knows how to
operate the vehicle."
Ken Alvey, director of the Boating Associations of Ohio, said boaters also are concerned about impaired
boating.
"It’s
a concern, and it’s the abuse of alcohol that’s the problem, not just
the use of it," Alvey said. "There always needs to be awareness."
Ohio,
which was one of 19 states that saw an increase in accidents involving
alcohol from 2007 to 2011, also has seen an increase in the number of
boaters on state waterways.
Boating registrations in the state set
an Ohio record of 426,674 last year, an increase of 13,870 since 2005.
Officials attribute much of that increase to more residents turning to
less expensive, smaller kayaks and canoes on the state’s more than 600
inland lakes and more than 128,500 linear miles of rivers, streams,
creeks and even smaller bodies of water.
The number of registered canoes and kayaks grew 110 percent in the decade ending 2011 to 97,963
registrations.
To
help offset the increased number of boaters and retirements in the
Division of Watercraft, the division graduated 24 cadets this month from
the Ohio State Highway Patrol academy.
A major part of their
training is recognizing impaired boating. Impaired boaters often are
stopped for other violations and then tested.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.