Life jacket legislation

[webcraft]

The RYA are frightened that if they make it a bit harder to prove that one is capable of being a day skipper, then people will not voluntarily seek out training. I wonder just how true this is.

I think at Day Skipper level it is quite possibly true. No-one wants to pay £400 or more for training that they have a high probability of 'failing'. No-one likes to fail.

The current Day Skipper course is on balance a good thing IMO. Making it strictly examinable rather than an overall judgement of competence based on four and a half days tuition and practice would almost certainly be counterproductive. However, if people feel strongly then perhaps they should get involved in the Cruisng Scheme and attempt to influence it.

- W

[Fire99]

Would making laws to force people to only cross the road at traffic lights or make you wear a crash helmet if you clean your upstairs windows, make people act any more 'sensibly'??

Of course not. People take risks with their own lives. Always will and should always be allowed to.

[webcraft]

Would making laws to force people to only cross the road at traffic lights or make you wear a crash helmet if you clean your upstairs windows, make people act any more 'sensibly'??

Of course not. People take risks with their own lives. Always will and should always be allowed to.

So you would like to see existing helmet and seatbelt laws scrapped, and would be prepared to pay more tax to cover the increased NHS accident and emergency and long term care bills?

- W

[Rigger Mortice]

It would be a bad thing to make it compulsory. To be honest there is too much talk on safety and not enough on competency. .

There are some who would take that as an argument in favour of compulsory licensing of boat users.

[RupertW]

Hope it doesnt become compulsory - I rarely wear one an my wife has sailed for 20 year now and I can't even persuade her to buy one.

I have little time for emergency equipment and prefer to spend money on safety equipment like decent sails and well maintained engine to keep me out of trouble. I do wear my lifejacket in rough weather and at night though simply because it is a a harness and therefore should prevent going overboard I hope.

Tenders when drunk do worry me a bit I admit so that's one place I might consider one. However it's my wife falls in at least twice a season late at night and I know she wouldn't go near a lifejacket.

[chanelyacht]

Bad thing in principle.

There would have to be a cutoff - obviously you aren't going to wear an LJ on a car ferry or a battleship.

I suspect more people drown in duck ponds, swimming pools and baths than UK coastal waters. It might be a non problem.

02/04/12 - UK Water related fatalities 2010 WAID report: Reveals 420 deaths from accidents & Natural causes

There were 420 water-related deaths from accidents or natural causes across the UK in 2010.

The report, which uses the WAter Incident Database (WAID), reveals that, as in previous years, the highest number of fatalities - 217 (52 per cent) - happened in inland waters such as rivers, canals, lakes, lochs, reservoirs and ponds.

Nearly a quarter of fatalities - 94 (22 per cent) - happened at the coast or in a harbour, dock, marina or port, while an additional 73 deaths (17 per cent) happened out at sea.

Twenty-four fatalities were the result of incidents in baths (including jacuzzis or hot-tubs), six in swimming pools and six in areas that are not usually watercourses, such as flooded areas.

Although fatalities were spread across every day of the week and every month of the year, Saturday was the most common day and April and June the most common months for fatalities to occur.

WAID was developed by the NWSF to enable greater detail and volume in the collection of data on fatal and non-fatal drowning, other water-related deaths and injuries, and near misses. It collects incident data from a wide range of sources including the emergency services, sports governing bodies, coastguard, rescue services, coroners’ courts, and press reports.

WAID was developed by NWSF members, including: national partners - British Waterways, British Sub Aqua Club, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, RoSPA and Royal Life Saving Society; sports governing bodies; and regional and local organisations, including Cornwall Council. It has been developed in partnership with the Department for Transport.

[chanelyacht]

We are more likely being conditioned to not think for ourselves anymore and blindly accept that wearing a lifejacket preserves life.

What a lot of paranoid, conspiracy theory nonsence.

Nobody is being "conditioned" into believing anything.

Perhaps you'd like to explain your hostility to lifejackets to the family, friends, 2 coastguard teams, 2 lifeboat crews, helicopter crew, police and paramedics who dealt with last weeks incident.

Ireland have had compulsory lifejackets for a couple of years now. Haven't noticed the imprisoning of the innocent and the death of the firstborn you seem to imply this would bring.

[Fire99]

So you would like to see existing helmet and seatbelt laws scrapped, and would be prepared to pay more tax to cover the increased NHS accident and emergency and long term care bills?

- W

Nope.

[Fire99]

At some point you just have to accept that an accident happened. It was a sad outcome, but these things happen, and just get on with your own lives rather that constantly looking for some blame to associate with it.

[PaulGooch]

I have a friend whose young brother was trapped under a capsized boat and drowned, because he was wearing a life jacket. So perhaps the use of life jackets should be banned ?