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Archive for Propeller Accident Statistics Comments

May
22
2013

Our List of Outboard Motors Flipping Into Boats Was Updated Today

by Gary

Several recent boat accidents in which outboard motors strike submerged objects and flip into boats, often with the propeller still turning have caused us to update our previous post listing these types of accidents. The spreadsheet on Outboard Motor Struck Submerged Object and Flipped Into Boat was updated today (22 May 2013) to include a few more historical accidents plus several more recent ones.

Among the more recent accidents are:

  • A lady in a small boat on Archusa Lake in Mississipi in April 2012
  • Mark Barhanovich’s September 2012 fatality near Deer Island Mississippi
  • A California accident reported directly to us in January 2013
  • Jeremey Michael Tate, professional bass fisherman, in Florida in March 2013
  • Chad Gibbs killed in Arkansas in April 2013.
  • Timothy Clippard, professional bass fisherman from Missouri killed in Kentucky in May 2013

Several of the recent accidents involve bass boats. Large outboards at higher speeds are showing up more frequently on the list.

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May
15
2013

USCG Releases Recreational Boating Statistics 2012

by Gary

U.S. Coast Guard released their annual recreational boating accident statistics report on Monday May 13th. The total fatality count for 2012 was 651 deaths, a record low. USCG reported 181 propeller accidents, 187 propeller injuries, and 19 propeller fatalities. For a more in depth historical comparison of propeller accident data, please see our Propeller Accident Statistics page.

Table 17 Frequency of Events in Accidents & Casualties Nationwide (see below) continues to follow the format USCG adopted in 2009 based on our and SPIN’s suggestions to reduce confusion between Event 1 and All Event data.

Table 17 from USCG Boating Statistics 2012

Table 17 from USCG Boating Statistics 2012

USCG reports accidents as a series of events, such as Event 1 = Struck Submerged Object, Event 2 = Person Overboard, Event 3 Person Struck by Propeller. Read More→

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May
5
2013

Pontoon Boat Bow Riding / Bowriding / Over the Bow Propeller Accidents List

by Gary

The April 2013 Sarah Roderick pontoon boat propeller fatality on Lake Havasu once again turned our focus to all the people going over bows of pontoon boats and being struck by the propeller. Many victims were bowriding. They sit on the deck and dangle their feet and legs in the water when the boat is underway. We tried to identify several over the bow pontoon boat propeller accidents to encourage the industry to address this longstanding problem and for use as a collection of accidents (tests) to run current and proposed solutions against.

As we put the list together we began to notice several other paths over the bow than the traditional bow riding scenario. Alternative accident modes were standing on the deck and loosing their balance as the pontoon boat hit a wave or abruptly slowed. Being inside rails or gate and falling overboard, pontoon boat gate failures, kids behind the fence with their feet reaching forward under it, adults reaching down for many different purposes then losing their balance, etc. Read More→

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Dec
25
2012

Medical Care Advances Influence Trends in BARD Fatalities

by Gary

USCG MH-60 Helicopter

USCG MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter
USCG image

The U.S. Coast Guard has long touted the downward slope in annual BARD (USCG’s Boating Accident Report Database) fatalities as a measure of improvements brought about by:

  • Regulations
  • Law enforcement presence
  • Boater education
  • Boating safety programs
  • Improvements in boating equipment

USCG reported 1,754 recreational boating fatalities in 1973 (the highest number of fatalities since 1970). Annual fatalities gradually dropped to 821 in 1997. Annual reported fatalities have bounced around a little since 1997, but continued their gradual decline to 672 in 2010.

The Coast Guard and other boating safety organizations were hoping for a continued decline in 2011. They anticipated the safety programs in place, plus the poor economy (fewer people boating) and high price of gas (boating fewer times for shorter durations) would result in a landmark low number. However, 2011 came in at 758 deaths, a total unequaled since 1998. Read More→

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Dec
13
2012

Casey Schulman Was Not the First: Catamaran Dive, Snorkel, & Party Boat Propeller Accidents

by Gary

Casey Schulman’s Anchorage Dive Center charter boat propeller accident in Dominica was not the first one.

The recent Casey Schulman propeller accident in Dominica involving a large Sail Cat on a Snorkel & Party charter has been called a “freak accident” by the media and even by the tour boat company involved.

Anchorage Dive Center Sail Cat

Anchorage Dive Center Sailing Catamaran
involved in the Casey Schulman accident

Anchorage, the charter boat operation involved issued a December 6, 2012 statement:

The Directors, Management and Staff of the Anchorage Hotel, Whale Watch and Dive Centre are deeply saddened by the fact that on Saturday 1st December 2012, Miss Casey Schulman, a cruise ship client on MV Explorer and a guest on their Catamaran Sail & Snorkel Cruise had a freak accident off Mero beach.

The boating industry, boat livery/rental industry, charter and tour boat industry, and the media have long referred to propeller accidents as freak accidents. Some suggest they are really trying to say “all is well, boating is safe, this was just a freak accident, keep spending your money here.” The media in boating / diving tourism locales often suppress boat accidents from the news or only briefly notes their occurrence. Newspapers and other media outlets in these areas do not want to alienate their advertisers that make money from activities on or near the water.

The Schulman accident, per the statement released by Anchorage, involved a large chartered sail catamaran. This type of vessel is often called a Sail Cat. Sail Cats of this size are typically used for diving, snorkeling, and party platforms by tour boat / charter boat operations near well known diving destinations (Cozumel, Belize, Hawaii, The Great Barrier Reef, Florida Keys, other Caribbean islands, etc.). Many Sail Cats have propulsion engines in the stern of each of their twin hulls, often near the steps used to board the vessel from the water. Sail Cat captains use the engines for navigating in close and for sailing charters when the wind is not cooperating. These large Sail Cats and their companion powered catamarans (similar boat without a sail) have been involved in many propeller accidents.

We provide list of some chartered Sail Cat and powered catamaran propeller accidents below so the hazards of an exposed propeller in these situations can be better understood Read More→

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Dec
6
2012

Tourists Being Struck and Killed by Boat Propellers in Diving / Snorkeling Areas

by Gary

The recent December 2012 Casey Schulman propeller accident is reminiscent of many other diving and snorkeling tourist prop strikes in diving / snorkeling areas. These regions of the world often lack quick emergency response teams, paramedics, life flight, trauma centers, advanced medical care, and blood supplies. Boats are usually not registered and no boating safety training is required. Governments in these regions have been accused of covering up evidence and making it difficult for families to resolve what really happened, especially when their prominent local citizens, local government officials, or local military personnel may have caused the accident. Legal recourse against potentially negligent parties is often very difficult to impossible. Often those thought to be responsible for causing the accident walk away scot-free.

The incidents reported below tell some of these tales, including asking residents of the hotel divers were staying in for blood because no supplies were available and one boat operator telling the diver he just ran over that he (the boat operator) would be holding him (the diver) responsible for the damages caused to his boat.

Dive Boat in Hong Kong

Large Dive Boat in Hong Kong That Was Involved in a Propeller Accident

We created this page to start accumulating a list of these accidents. We will be adding to it as time permits.

Tourists Struck by Propellers in Diving and Snorkeling Areas Outside the U.S.

Read More→

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Oct
25
2012

Boat Propeller Accident Statistics / BARD Database: Historical Calls for Improving Completeness, Accuracy, and Ease of Use

by Gary

Many have called for improving the completeness, accuracy, and ease of use of the records surrounding boat propeller accidents.

Those seeking to prevent or mitigate propeller accidents are generally forced to rely upon the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Annual Boating Statistics report for propeller accident frequency data. For example, we covered the release of the 2011 Boating Statistics. We post propeller accident frequency data from the annual Boating Statistics reports from the last several years on our Propeller Accident Statistics page.

USCG recognizes not all accidents are reported in BARD, but claims almost all of the fatalities are reported. USCG claims the more serious the accident, the more likely it is to be reported. The boating industry says most propeller accidents are serious, USCG says the more serious the accident the more likely it is to be reported, so most propeller accidents are reported.

The individual accident reports behind USCG’s annual Boating Statistics report are themselves summarized in USCG’s annual Boating Accident Report Database (BARD).

When researchers are trying to determine the magnitude of a particular problem (such as boat propeller accidents), they first turn to USCG’s annual Boating Statistics report. Then to better understand the specifics of the individual accidents and if a particular device or process might have prevented or mitigated a particular accident, they turn to the individual accident reports in BARD.

The problems with that approach are: Read More→

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Oct
9
2012

Updated list of Dredge Pipe Strikes and Updated List of Houseboat Propeller Accidents

by Gary

With the U.S. Coast Guard’s recent release of the public Boating Accident Report Database (BARD) for 2011 we spent some time updating our list of boats striking dredge pipes in response to the recent Mark Barhanovich fatality.

Dredge pipe strikes are a rising concern with the Laass vs. Storm Lake case (death of David Paul McFarlin), the July 2011 fatality of a young girl in Trinity Bay (Texas), the high frequency at which accidents are reported by word of mouth in the region of dredging operations, and now the death of Mark Barhanovich (which has not yet been officially confirmed as a dredge pipe strike).

We also updated the list of houseboat propeller accidents we originally put together for our 2010 response to the U.S. Coast Guard’s rejection of the proposed USCG 10163 rule. In addition to adding the more recent accidents, SPIN sent us a USCG prepared list of 1983-1987 propeller accidents. We took some time to decode the old database entries, identified the houseboat propeller accidents and added them as well. We also identified some houseboat accidents in the 1983-1987 list USCG did not have identified as houseboats, and added them too.

If anybody is aware of any accidents that should be on either of these two lists that is not listed, please send them to us via the Contact Us tab on the top menu.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE

On November 15, 2012 we added three more dredge pipe strike accidents to the list (1986 FL accident in which the outboard flew into the boat and injured a passenger, 2006 FL injury accident in which dredge pipe was being towed to a new job site but was anchored in open water for the night, and a 2009 Corpus Christi Texas Commercial Ferry accident).

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Jun
30
2012

Boat Kill Switch Wear Rate Estimated from U.S. Coast Guard BARD Data

by Gary

Last year, the U.S. Coast Guard proposed a regulation requiring operators of certain boats to wear kill switches (like lanyard kill switches the stop the engine if the boat operator is ejected). A few states have already enacted similar requirements.

Kill Switch Lanyard on Wrist

Kill Switch Lanyard on Wrist – Image courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard

USCG’s request for public comment asked for data on current kill switch (engine cut-off switch) wear rates including kill switch wear rates in states like Alabama that require them. We have since searched fairly widely and found no public data on boat kill switch wear rates or estimates of boat kill switch wear rates.

In response to the Coast Guard’s request, and several other projects, we decided to attempt to estimate kill switch wear rates from previously collected boat accident data in USCG’s Boating Accident Report Database (BARD).

BARD began collecting kill switch wear data on boat operators involved in reportable boat accidents in a separate data field in 2009. Prior to then, the redacted narrative (description of the accident) sometimes mentioned if one was used or not.

We limited our study to vessels identified as open motorboats in the accident reports. Read More→

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May
31
2012

USCG Releases Recreational Boating Statistics 2011

by Gary

USCG Boating Statistics 2011 cover

USCG Recreational Boating Statistics 2011

We noticed the U.S. Coast Guard recently released their annual boating accident statistics report. The total fatality count for 2011 was 758 deaths (vs. 672 in 2010). USCG reported 197 propeller accidents (vs. 179 in 2010) and 35 propeller fatalities (vs. 27 in 2010). We note a substantial increase in the number of propeller accidents (up 20 accidents or 10 percent) and fatalities (up 8 fatalities or 30 percent). For a more in depth historical comparison of propeller accident data, please see our Propeller Accident Statistics page.

Table 17 (Frequency of Events in Accidents & Casualties Nationwide) continued to follow the format they adopted in 2009 based on our and SPIN’s suggestions and helps prevent people from getting Event 1 data (total number of times that event was the first thing to happen in any accident) confused with the total number of Events (the total number of times that event happened in all accidents).

However, Table 16 (Accident, Vessel & Casualty Numbers by Primary Accident Type 2011) still tends to mislead viewers into reading Event 1 data as the total number of accidents for a specific accident type if they do not read the table very carefully.

Pages 8 and 9 discuss changes to the publication this year (specifically the removal of “Passenger/skier behavior” and “careless/reckless operation” as causes due to the belief boaters would not self report those causes).

We noticed there was one Event 1 propeller accident involving a houseboat. We will followup on that accident and see if we spot any more houseboat propeller accidents in the full BARD (Boating Accident Report Database) for 2011 when we get some time. We also notice several Event 1 propeller accidents involving longer vessels (one 33 footer, one 36 footer, two 40-65 footers). Some of those vessels may have also been houseboats but not classified as such.

We would like to thank USCG for all the efforts they put into this annual statistical report of boating accidents.

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