The wet, cool weather helped. So did some tough new laws.
But a more fundamental change created one of the safest summers on record on Georgia’s lakes and rivers, law enforcement officials say. Boaters, officials say, have become more aware of and more careful to avoid the inherent risks on the water, especially the added dangers caused by excessive drinking.
The result is a long-term decrease in fatal boating accidents and drownings. Even the number of arrests for boating under the influence is down, despite a new law that lowered the threshold for intoxicated boating.
Until the past few years, “BUI was something no one thought much about,” said Lt. Col. Jeff Weaver, assistant chief of law enforcement for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which patrols public waterways statewide. As the boating season reached its unofficial conclusion this Labor Day weekend, officers noticed that more and more boaters were taking safety seriously. In the past year alone, Weaver said, the number of boat collisions dropped by half.
“They are operating smarter with alcohol out on the water,” he said.
On Lake Lanier, a long-time employee at Gainesville Marina sees a difference.
“Fifteen years ago it wasn’t quite as busy and there were less accidents, and then a few years ago it got really busy and there were a lot of accidents, and this year it’s been down,” said C.J. Denning, the marina’s boat-rental manager for 15 years. As for tougher enforcement, Denning said, “people are responding pretty well to it.”
By Sunday, Georgia had recorded just eight boating-related fatalities this year – less than half the annual average of 18 since 1985. Twenty-two other people drowned in public waterways this year, compared to 36 in 2012 and an average of 52 each of the past 14 years.
Metro Atlanta’s busiest lakes – Lanier and Allatoona, which draw 7.5 million and 6.5 million visitors a year, respectively – have seen similar trends. At Lanier, three people have died in boating accidents this year and one person has drowned; just two years ago, the tolls were seven and 10. No one drowned at Allatoona so far this year; seven drowned as recently as 2011. Fatal boating accidents generally have remained steady at one to two a year over the past decade.
Statewide, arrests for boating under the influence totaled 140 through mid-August, far below the yearly average of 274 of the past two decades.
With a stricter boating under the influence law taking effect this year, Weaver said, “everyone thought we would just double that (arrest) number. We haven’t.”
Georgia legislators toughened boating laws this year after two accidents killed three children on Lake Lanier in 2012. In one, Kile Glover, 11, the son of the former wife of the rhythm-and-blues singer Usher, died after a boater ran over him on an inner tube behind a pontoon boat. The boater was charged with homicide by vessel. In the other accident, two brothers, 9-year-old Jake Prince and 13-year-old Griffin Prince, died after another boater slammed into their family’s pontoon. The other boater was accused of homicide by vessel and boating under the influence.
Beginning this year, it became illegal for anyone with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher to operate a boat – the same standard applied to drivers of motor vehicles. The previous threshold for boating was .10.
In 2014, the state will require safety courses for boaters born after July 1, 1998. In addition, anyone who rents a watercraft with a 10-horsepower or larger engine will have to take an abbreviated safety class.
The 2012 accidents resonated with many boaters, who may have previously thought the open expanses on Lanier and other lakes left plenty of room for error.
“There was definitely an emotional tie to that for a lot of people,” said Melissa Cummings, a Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman. “They really saw the human side of what happens when something goes wrong on the water.”
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