In a message dated 4/22/2003 4:06:53 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Blankibr_at_aol.com writes: > Just to be clear, those were percentages of deaths reported by the ACA from > the USCG data they examined. To repeat what I originally said: "50% of > fatal kayak accidents occurred while wearing a PFD, 44% while not wearing a > > PFD (no explanation for the other 6%)." > > My problem with this statistic is it doesn't separate WW from sea kayaking, > never mind rec boat users who don't consider themselves boaters (like we > have > been discussing in another thread), from "serious" kayakers. A factor that I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is the actual cause of death. I've seen statistics in other places (sorry I can't recall where) that something like 90% of _drownings_ involve no PFD. And I'd suspect that a high percentage of deaths due to hypothermia are also among those without PFDs. Many causes of death, like impact, keeper- and strainer-related drownings, and sudden drowning, may be uninfluenced by the presence of a PFD on your body. But the most likely causes of death for most sea kayakers are drowning, hypothermia and hypothermia-related drowning. In these instances, wouldn't you think the regular use of a PFD would increase your chances of survival? Discussions of the aggregate percentages of death with and without PFDs seems about as relevant as discussing the hair color of the unlucky ones to die. What is really important is the question of what killed them and whether a PFD (or better instruction, a different boat, a bombproof roll, or whatever) might have helped prevent the death. There are no easy answers to preventing deaths in kayaking, any more than there are in general boating. It seems prudent to pass laws regarding operation of boats, cars and planes with regard to operating under the influence, under age, in reckless and indifferent manners, and perhaps in some other respects. Thank God we require licenses for drivers and pilots. On the other hand, I also am happy we don't require them of kayakers. I just don't know. Harold *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Slightly off the topics of kayaks, I was in Maui a couple months ago and signed up for an expensive snorkeling tour to Lania. While reading different reviews of the tour, I found out that they required all snorkelers to wear PFDs! I called and confirmed it with the tour opperator and canceled my tour. I think a lot of the arguments made here for PFD use would suggest snorklers should use them, but I'm not going to be one of them. I think the idea that we need the govmint to pass laws to take all the risk out of life is ridiculous. Mark Sanders *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:33 PDT