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CD-FO-3895 <br />1990 <br />-V <br />AUG 2 4 1S90 <br />Research Summaries mm <br />CENTER <br />Minnesota Extension Service <br />University of Minnesota <br />No. 8 <br />Boating Safety in Minnesota <br />Introduction <br />Minnesota is first in the country in <br />per-capua boat o>vnership. Nearly <br />700.000 boats were registered in <br />I9S9—about one boat for every 6.3 <br />people living in the state. With so <br />many boaters, questions of boating <br />.safety arise. How safe is boating in <br />Minnesota? What safety problems <br />Jo boaters encounter and what <br />should be done about them? <br />To obtain answers to these and other <br />questions relcued to the quality of <br />boating in Minnesota, a statewide <br />survey of registered Minnesota boat <br />owners was conducted in 1988 by <br />the University of Minnesota and the <br />Minnesota Department of Natural <br />Resources (DNR). funded by the <br />DNR. The research summarized tn <br />this report is based on a survey of <br />2,^90 boat owners, projected to the <br />entire population of Minnesota reg <br />istered boat owners. A description of <br />the study design and methods ap­ <br />pears at the e,id of this report. <br />MlnnMa*& <br />ll <br />OEPUTMENT OF <br />MTURM. RESOURCES <br />by Leo H. McAvoy, David W. Lime, Curtis Schatz, and David G. Pitt <br />is Boating Safe in <br />Minnesota? <br />In general, the survey indicates that, among <br />Minnesota’s 286,000 pleasure boat own­ <br />ers, boaung is relatively safe. Over 95% of <br />the resptindents have not been involved in <br />any boating accident in the past five years. <br />Fewer than 2% have boon in an accident <br />resulting in significant property damage <br />(over ?2(X)), and less than 1% were in­ <br />volved in a boating accident resulting in <br />injury re<|uiring more than basic first aid. <br />Although few accidents were reported in <br />this survey, boat owners in the mjtro <br />region reported an xci lent rate twice as <br />high as that of owners in the north and 'Outh <br />regions. One reason for ihe low overall <br />accident rate among ill Minnesota boat <br />Figure 1. Percentage of boat <br />owners who have or have not <br />taken a boating safety course <br />owners may be the high level of boating <br />experience among tho.se responding to ti e <br />questionnaire. The average Minnesota beat <br />owner in this study has 22 years of boating <br />expenence. <br />.As indicated in Figures I and 2, slightly <br />more than 1/5 of the boat owners have over <br />completed a boaung siicty course offered <br />by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (9%), <br />Minnesota DNR (4%). U S. Power Squad­ <br />rons (5%). or other training agency (7%). <br />Metro region boat ow ners were more likely <br />(28%) to have taken a boat safely course <br />than wc.e those from cither the north (17%) <br />or the south (19%) regions. <br />Need for Increased Safety <br />Even though boating in Minnesota is gener­ <br />ally safe, Ixiat owners believe that there is a <br />need for increased safety on 'Jie slate’s <br />lakes and nvers. Inappropriate boating be­ <br />havior of others, the increasing amount of <br />boat uaff^c. and the level of enforcement of <br />boating rules and regulations arc problems <br />iliai boat owners see as a threat to safe <br />boat .ng. <br />More than 80% of the boat owners indi­ <br />cated that poor behavior by other boaters is <br />a problem, 68% viewed the large and grow­ <br />ing numbers of boaters on lakes and <br />streams as a problem, and 57% agreed that <br />there is a problem with enforcement of <br />boating rules and regulations. Boat owners <br />in the mcuo region perceived these safety <br />problems as being more prevalent then did <br />respondents in the other regions. Figure 3