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How a Boating or Water Accident Can Change Your Life
Often, we see or hear of drivers driving intoxicated or drivers too inexperienced to pull skiers, wakeboarders, or tubers safely. They need to know the right speed and conditions for each water sport. Jet skis or watercraft can collide, tip, or hit docks or swimmers. Boating accidents happen all the time on Twin Lakes. Still, the same activity happens on Priest, Coeur d' Alene, Hayden, Roosevelt, Moses, and other lakes and rivers in North Idaho and Eastern Washington.
GENERAL RULE OF THUMB FOR DAYS ON THE WATER
- Don't drive with anyone inexperienced, drunk, or too young
- Ride in the boat in designated seats
- Don't swim or sit around the prop
- If you smell engine fumes – move and notify the operator
- Make sure there is always a responsible spotter
- Make sure all safety gear and sporting equipment are safe
- Make sure your driver is aware of and complying with all safe boating laws and regulations
Did you know that the laws governing one lake may be different on a neighboring lake? For instance, how close a boat can get to the shore, other crafts, and stationary property like docks may vary from lake to lake. So too, can the day and night speed limit. If you have been in a boating or water accident, we will tell you about those and all applicable Coast Guard, State, County, and local laws.
Five major types of accidents that occur:
- A Collision with Another Vehicle/vessel
- Flooding of The Vessel
- Crashing Into a Fixed Object
- Falling Overboard
- A Mishap with An External Apparatus (such as Water Ski, Tube, or Wakeboard)
Of all these, falling overboard results in more deaths than the rest combined — and the majority of those who do die are not wearing life jackets. In more cases than any other, the result of a boating accident is carelessness on the part of an operator. It is failing to notice another boat, failing to use proper signals, or paying attention to something other than the conditions of the water that result in hundreds of accidents and dozens of deaths per year. While alcohol use has relatively fewer accidents, it accounts for most death cases.
Slow watercraft can be dangerous because they cannot get out of the way. A watercraft with more agility, such as a jet ski, can quickly avoid danger, but they are more likely to prove fatal due to the lack of protection. Indeed, the safest type of craft you can have on a lake like Lake Pend Oreille is a rowboat, as it is much too slow to create any hazard on its own.
Should you experience boating, swimming, jet ski, tubing, wakeboarding, or other water, lake, or river accident, you should contact an attorney to discuss the recovery of medical bills, property, pain and suffering, lost wages, and other types of damages.
