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Recreational Vessel Incidents
In 2005 and 2006, there were 1772 incidents involving at least one recreational vessel. A breakdown of these incidents is provided below:
|
2005 |
2006 |
Total |
Incidents involving recreational vessels |
873 |
899 |
1772 |
% of all incidents |
58.2 |
57.0 |
57.6 |
The top 10 incident types in recreational vessel incidents are shown below:
Rank |
Incident Type |
2005-2006 |
% of Total |
1 |
Collision of Vessels |
493 |
27.8 |
2 |
Unintentional Groundings |
233 |
13.1 |
3 |
Capsizing |
209 |
11.8 |
4 |
Sinking |
121 |
6.8 |
5 |
Swamping |
92 |
5.2 |
6 |
Collision with fixed object |
82 |
4.6 |
7 |
Person overboard |
78 |
4.4 |
8 |
Other |
70 |
4.0 |
9 |
Collision with submerged object |
61 |
3.4 |
10 |
Fire |
51 |
2.9 |
When compared with all incidents, collision of vessels, capsizings and sinkings are over-represented in recreational vessel incidents (see Incidents by Type page for a comparison).
The top 10 contributing factors in recreational vessel incidents are provided below:
Rank |
Contributing Factor |
2005-2006 |
% of Total |
1 |
Error of Judgment |
440 |
17.6 |
2 |
Wind/sea state |
362 |
14.4 |
3 |
Failure to keep a proper lookout |
164 |
6.5 |
4 |
Inexperience |
164 |
6.5 |
5 |
Navigational error |
139 |
5.5 |
6 |
Equipment – Machinery |
129 |
5.1 |
7 |
Excessive speed |
78 |
3.1 |
8 |
Equipment - Hull failure |
72 |
2.9 |
9 |
Insecure mooring |
68 |
2.7 |
10 |
Floating or submerged object |
65 |
2.6 |
When compared with all incidents, error of judgement, failure to keep a proper lookout and inexperience are slightly over-represented in recreational vessel incidents (see Contributing Factors in Incidents page for a comparison).
In terms of serious injuries and fatalities in recreational vessel incidents, the following table provides a breakdown of their occurrence in 2005 and 2006:
|
2005 |
2006 |
Total |
Total as % of all fatalities/injuries |
Serious Injury |
110 |
115 |
225 |
71.4 |
Fatality |
35 |
35 |
70 |
79.5 |
While recreational vessel incidents account for 58% of all incidents, recreational vessel fatalities account for 80% of all fatalities. Recreational vessel serious injuries account for 71% of all serious injuries. This shows that when a recreational vessel incident is reported it is more likely to be serious in nature than when a commercial vessel incident is reported.
The majority of recreational vessel fatalities occurred from motorboats, making up 57% of recreational fatalities. This was followed by sailing boats (16%) and paddle boats (10%). Similarly, motorboats made up the majority of serious injuries, with 66% of recreational serious injuries. Personal water craft made up the second largest number on 16% of recreational serious injuries
