USCG Recreational Boating Statistics 2010

We noticed the U.S. Coast Guard released their annual boating accident statistics report a little over a week ago while we were still engaged in trying to move to our new PropellerSafety.com website. The total fatality count for 2010 was 672 deaths (vs. 736 in 2009). USCG reported 179 propeller accidents and 27 propeller fatalities for 2010. For an 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 2010) still tends to mislead people 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 merger of Tables 17 and 18). That is a little confusing because those tables actually merged in the 2009 report. All the text in the “Changes to the Publication” section of the 2010 report also appear word for word in the 2009 report.

Anyway, its great to see the total boating accident fatality count go down, although it may be a reflection of a poor economy and high fuel costs.

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 2010 when things settle down around here a little bit.

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