PropellerSafety.com

Propeller Accident Statistics Comments – Page 5

USCG Releases 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 […]

Boat or Boat Motor Struck Submerged Dredge Pipe: Exemplar Boat Accidents

The Storm Lake Iowa Laass v. Brunswick case has focused attention on boats and marine drives striking submerged or floating dredge pipes / dredge lines. In the Storm Lake accident, a ten year old boy, David Paul McFarlin was killed on May 31, 2010. A 175 HP Mercury outboard struck a submerged dredge pipe, flipped […]

Outboard Motor Struck Submerged Object And Flipped Into Boat: Exemplar Outboard Boat Accidents

The Storm Lake Iowa Laass v. Brunswick case has focused attention on outboard marine drives striking submerged objects and flying back up into the boat. In the Storm Lake accident, a ten year old boy, David Paul McFarlin was killed on May 31, 2010. A 175 HP Mercury outboard struck a submerged dredge pipe, flipped […]

Propeller Fatality Cap and Trade With a Tax On Over Cap Fatalities

We propose a tax on fatal boat propeller accidents similar to a tax on pollution as a means of encouraging marine drive companies to prevent propeller injuries. The U.S. Coast Guard Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking surrounding propeller and carbon monoxide safety (USCG-2011-0497) asked for public comments on possible strategies to reduce propeller injuries. Thinking […]

Propeller Fatality Tax, Cap and Trade Background Information

We discuss Propeller Fatality Cap and Trade With a Tax on Over Cap Fatalities as a means to reduce recreational boat propeller fatalities in another post. While developing those concepts, we explored some other venues as well. The less desired approaches are provided here as reference material. In general, they present an approaches similar to […]

BARD Reported Accidents by Outboard and Sterndrive Manufacturer Used to Estimate Legacy Drive Population Market Shares

We are working on a propeller safety proposal that requires an estimate of the percentage of U.S. outboard and sterndrive boats powered by the various outboard and sterndrive manufacturers that are in the field, called the boat park by other nations. These numbers may be considerably different than current market shares due to some manufacturers […]

Propeller Accidents Similar to the McGarrigle Accident: Mercury Said There Were None – Our Findings Indicate Otherwise

In McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine Mercury claims McGarrigle’s accident is the first one of its kind involving one of the over 750,000 tiller outboards (portable outboards) they built from 1986 to July 2007. We suspect there were several more. This post documents our quick search for others. Our Mercury Marine Tells Court the McGarrigil Accident […]

Entrapped by a Boat Propeller

The boating industry has long objected to propeller guards. One of their frequent objections is the possibility that someone might become entrapped in the propeller guard (physically caught on the prop guard). We find their objection interesting considering we frequently encounter reports of boat propeller accidents in which people were entrapped or entangled in open […]

Shark Attacks vs. Propeller Strikes: A Statistical Comparison

We often see media reports referring to propeller strikes as very rare or freak events, while shark attacks are trumpeted as an ever present danger. While both events share some potentially horrible outcomes and spark fear in victims and onlookers, propeller accidents are actually much more frequent. This post is being written in response to […]

Stephen Keller Boat Propeller Accident – Boat Propeller Fatality Statistics Under Reported – San Jose Mercury News Misinforms Readers

Stephen Keller’s fatal boat propeller accident on Lake Tahoe Saturday August 27, 2011 was covered by San Jose California’s Mercury News, because Stephen Joseph Keller DDS was a dentist in San Jose. Mercury News’ August 31st coverage of the boating accident made a major error in reporting the number of annual United States deaths by […]