Benefits of Life Jackets
When properly fitted and worn, life jackets often save lives when a person is involved in a boating-related incident that involves water immersion. Fewer than one in five people who are killed in a boating-related accident are wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident. The types of life jackets are:
Type 1 This is an offshore life jacket designed for extended survival in large, rough waters where rescue may be slow in coming, such as on Lake Erie. This type can turn an unconscious person to a vertical or slightly backward position and is the type that is required on all commercial watercraft.
Type 2 Considered the most common type, this is the near-shore buoyancy vest used in calm, waters where the chance for a fast rescue is very good to excellent such as inland lakes and rivers. It is available in a variety of sizes, styles and colors and is less bulky and expensive compared to the Type 1 life jacket.
Type 3 This is primarily a flotation aid and regarded as the most comfortable with a ride range of styles for different types of boating activities and other water sports. It is ideal for calm water situations, but will not turn an unconscious person’s face upward unless it is an inflatable life jacket.
Type 4 This is a throwable flotation device to be tossed to a person who has fallen overboard. This device should be immediately available for emergency use and should not be used for small children, nonswimmers or unconscious victims.
Type 5 This type of life jacket is designed for a specific user and can include work vests and deck suits. This device contains varying levels of inherent buoyancy.
Inflatable Life Jackets While inflatable life jackets are often cooler and less bulky than traditional life jackets, they are not the life jacket of choice for all boating situations. These are generally sized for people age 17 and older, weighing more than 80 pounds. They are not recommended for weak or non-swimmers nor for use in water sports like skiing or whitewater boating. They are not recommended for use with personal watercraft. Inflatable life jackets have an automatic or manual inflation device with an oral inflation device as a backup.
Number of Boats/Boaters Equipped With Life Jackets
Laws require that boats include a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket of appropriate type and size for each passenger on the boat. Unfortunately, most boaters do not wear or properly wear a life jacket while boating.
Risks of Not Using Life Jackets
During a boating-related accident, such as a swamping or capsizing, passengers are unexpectedly thrown into the water and can die as a result of drowning. Since many accidents happen with little or no advance warning, there is little chance of obtaining a life jacket from a boat deck or storage unit and properly securing it before entering the water.
The National Safe Boating Council, U.S. Coast Guard and ODNR Division of Watercraft report that approximately 85 percent of all boating-related fatalities in the U.S. involve victims who were not wearing a life jacket.
Immediate Solutions
Ohio law requires a U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jacket be worn by children under age 10 on watercraft less than 18 feet long, anyone regardless of age who is being towed or pulled behind any boat, and all persons who operate and ride upon a personal watercraft.
Though not required by law, boaters should always properly wear a life jacket:
- When they cannot swim or are a weak swimmer
- When boating alone
- When the water is dangerously cold (October-May in Ohio)
- When boating at night
- In swift and fast current conditions
- During rough or severe water conditions
- In emergency situations
Life jackets save lives. Each year, lives would be saved if all boaters properly wore U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets while boating.