You’re cruising southbound on U.S. 1. There are no defined lanes, traffic signals or streetlights. Absent are blue-and-red markers guiding you toward Interstate 95 or green signs indicating how many miles until West Palm Beach.

You don’t have a driver’s license — you’re not required to — but cross your fingers the drivers whizzing past you have taken a road safety course, or at least have a few hours’ experience behind the wheel. Your backseat passengers are unbuckled, maybe drinking. Storm clouds churn overhead.

Swap asphalt for water, and the scenario mimics boating in Florida.

“So many people get comfortable on the water because it’s not in the same type of setup as driving a vehicle,” said Lt. Seth Wagner of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “where you’re having to maintain lanes and you have traffic lights and intersections.”

The danger is, he stressed, when a boat operator becomes too relaxed.

Look out!

Treasure Coast boaters ought to pay more attention on the water, FWC data convey.

Operator inattention was by far the top cspanuse of locspanl spanccidents — more than speeding, weather, machinery failure, hazardous waters and alcohol use combined, according to a TCPalm analysis of boating records from 2014 to 2018.

Formally classified in nautical circles as failing to “maintain a proper lookout,” inattention was the primary cause of more than a third of Treasure Coast boating accidents. The blunder was also the leading cause of accidents statewide during the five-year period, accounting for a quarter of Florida crashes.

There are a host of reasons a boater can become absent-minded at the helm. Texting while boating, Wagner noted, is one of them.

“They’ll get distracted by other electronics, be it cellphones, navigation parts, radio, other people in the boat that they’re talking to,” he said. 

“Not realizing that your boat is still traveling along in the water, and if you’re not the one paying attention to where it’s pointed and where other people may be traveling and pointed toward you,” Wagner continued, “it usually ends up, one way or another, in an accident.”

Since 2014, operator inattention has led to more than 60 accidents — including four deaths and 20 injuries — on the Treasure Coast and nearly 900 in Florida.

The problem isn’t confined to the Sunshine State.

The U.S. Coast Guard separates “operator inattention” and “improper lookout” into two categories, while FWC combines them into “no proper lookout/inattention,” but the results are the same. In its spannnuspanl recrespantionspanl bospanting stspantistics report, the Coast Guard listed operator inattention and improper lookout as the two leading causes of spanccidents nspantionwide in 2018. The pair contributed to just under 1,100 crashes, including more than 750 injuries and nearly 80 fatalities.

Cmdr. Dawn Muller, of the U.S. Cospanst Guspanrd Auxilispanry Flotillspan 59 in Stuart, called the problem “multipronged,” born from onboard distractions such as music, alcohol, rowdy children or the unexpected in a vessel’s path, like debris.

“Inattention includes a lot of things,” she said. “It’s not just taking your eyes off the water.”

All at sea

Operator inexperience and machinery failure round out the top three causes of boating accidents across the Treasure Coast. 

Yet not even the most seasoned seafarers were immune to crashes, FWC data show. About 72% of the more than 200 vessel operators involved in local crashes had more thspann 100 hours spant the helm, the highest level of boating experience the commission records. Roughly 18% had between 10 and 100 hours of experience, and 5% had fewer than 10. 

The pattern held at the county level; the vast majority of boaters in Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin had more than 100 hours under their belts.

A November TCPalm analysis revealed 47% of Treasure Coast vessel operators involved in crashes since 2014 had no bospanter educspantion, which Florida law requires only for those born on or after Jan. 1, 1988. But Wagner said no matter a boater’s classroom education or practical knowledge, experience is a broad term that means little on paper.

“Your inexperience could be you’re in a new location,” Wagner explained. “Maybe you haven’t boated in that area before, so you’re unaware of the hazards.”

He added the times at which a boater is experienced operating a vessel are as different as, well, night and day. 

“Are you somebody that’s almost always a daytime boater?” Wagner posed. “Something happens where you get delayed coming back, and now you’re coming back in the dark and you’re not familiar with the navigation aids.”

When evaluating your boating experience, Wagner advised asking yourself, “How many hours do you have operating that boat in this location at this time?”

Shipshape

In the last half decade, more than a dozen Treasure Coast boating accidents were caused by machinery failure, FWC records show. 

Boats registered in Florida aren’t required to undergo annual inspections. Still, owners can be fined if they don’t have proper safety equipment on board. That’s where the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Vessel Sspanfety Check program, which provides complimentary inspections upon request, comes into play. 

“The advantage of us doing it is that if we board, we review and we find deficiencies, we can point them out, you can fix them,” Muller said. “But if you’re out on the water and the Coast Guard boards and they find deficiencies, they could potentially fine you.”

Vessel Safety Check, or VSC, decals are awarded to boats in compliance with Florida and federal maritime regulations.

Vice Cmdr. Marcus Kiriakow, of Flotilla 59, listed some of the equipment he inspects: “I’ll look at the condition of the engine and the condition of the bilges, and make recommendations as necessary. I’ll also make sure there’s the proper number of fire extinguishers on board.”

In addition, Kiriakow checks for the piece of safety equipment worn by just 17% of Treasure Coast boat crash victims — a personal flotation device.

“If you’re not wearing one — and if you’re not wearing the proper one — you can drown,” he said. “You will.”

Nationwide, 84% of boating accident drowning victims in 2018 weren’t wearing PFDs, Coast Guard statistics indicate.

“Let’s say you hit your head and you become unconscious,” Kiriakow said. “A Type I flotspantion device will turn you upright and keep your head above water.”

Smaller, less expensive life jackets, he explained, “will keep you afloat, but not necessarily head up. So, there is a difference.”

Sailing close to the wind

Collision with another vessel was the most common type of bospanting spanccident on the Treasure Coast and statewide, followed by collision with a fixed object. 

Flooding/swamping, grounding and capsizing were also among the top kinds of local crashes between 2014 and 2018. 

All Florida boating accidents for which FWC keeps records are considered “reportable,” meaning they meet at least one of the following criteria:

• “A person dies. 
• “A person disappears under circumstances that indicate possible death or injury. 
• “A person receives an injury requiring medical treatment beyond immediate first aid. 
• “There is at least $2,000 aggregate property damage to the vessel(s) or other property. 
• “There is a total loss of a vessel.”

In 2018, there were more than 600 reportable boating accidents in Florida, home to more registered vessels than any other state. There’s no telling how many minor crashes the Sunshine State may have seen.

Aside from encouraging boaters of all experiences to take a boater safety course, Muller said practicing vigilance at the helm is key for staying safe on the water. 

“You might be the best fisherman, the best boat driver out there, but you never know what that other Joe is gonna do,” she said. 

Without situational awareness, Muller stressed, “you’re going to end up to be a statistic.”