PropellerSafety.com

Archive for July 2014

Boat kill-switch article in Miami New Times by Trevor Bach

Following up on the Dinner Key July 4th, 2014 accident in South Florida (four fatalities and several critically injured), Trevor Bach of Miami New Times published a Riptide blog post on 31 July 2014 titled, “Dinner Key Tragedy: Advocates Say Florida Could Save Lives With One Simple Safety Law” In the article Trevor Bach notes […]

Nixon Sandbar Video vs. “Don’t Wreck Your Summer”

Miami New Times continuing coverage of boating safety issues identified Nixon Sandbar as a well known party spot with ties to some major boating accidents (like the DJ Laz accident, and the July 4th Dinner Key accident). As part of their investigation, Miami New Times shot some video coverage of the weekend of July 4th, […]

Ryan Batchelder, 7 of FL, killed: boat propeller accident Lake Burton

Ryan Paul Batchelder, 7 of Lake Worth Florida, was in the bow of a rented boat with at least one other child on Lake Burton in Georgia on Thursday 17 July, 2014. About 5 pm, the boat operator made a hard turn, the boat hit a large wake, some water came over the bow, Ryan […]

Malta Doctors Call for Propeller Safety Public Legislation & Boat Design

Three physicians on the Mediterranean Island of Malta are calling or the use of boat propeller guards. Their paper in the Malta Medical Journal covers the accident and recovery of a propeller accident victim there. The 44 year old man was scuba diving off Malta. As he was surfacing, strong currents pushed him into the […]

South Florida boat party scene & safety: Miami New Times

Trevor Bach of the Miami New Times (a paper in Miami FL) authored a major investigative story on the South Florida boat party scene getting out of hand and resulting in several high profile accidents. The last of which, was the quadruple fatality the evening of July 4th off Dinner Key. A 32 foot power […]

Our List of Pontoon Boat Over the Bow Accidents Updated 8 July 2014

We recently spent some time updating our list of Pontoon Boat Bowriding propeller accidents. Since our October 2013 update, we have become aware of or identified about 15 more over the bow pontoon boat propeller accidents. They are mostly 2013 and 2014 accidents. Several of the new 2013 accidents come from the recently released 2013 […]

Miles Wohlford dies from propeller injuries on Okanagan Lake in Canada

About 6pm Saturday 28 June 2014, a group of friends were tubing on Okanagan Lake near Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Miles Wohlford, 14 of Vernon B.C., fell from the tube, the boat swung around to pick him up, and he was struck by the propeller. The boat was being operated by a 49 year old […]

Gruesome Propeller Murder of Rico Dardis now in UK Court

Earlier, we covered the 27 May 2013 Christchurch boat propeller death of Rico Dardis, a 30 year old UK rapper and father, in some of our efforts to record the history of boat propeller safety events in the UK. Since then, his death has often been in the news as authorities have been investigating the […]

Drew Barefield, 12, struck by boat propeller on Choctawhatchee Bay

Drew Barefield, a 12 year old boy from Crestview Florida, was snorkeling in Choctawhatchee Bay while his dad was net casting for mullet nearby on Saturday evening 28 June 2014 about 7:40 pm. They were in an area of bay near Villa Tasso between Niceville and Freeport known for being shallow for about a quarter […]