Drunk while boating not a good idea

A research study covering all 50 states and U.S. territories, including the CNMI, has shown that drinking while boating could be fatal to your health.

Two years ago on July 4, Dean Martin, of Charlotte, Vt., was skipper of a combination sailboat/motorboat when the watercraft capsized on Lake Champlain. All 11 people on board were tossed out. Only nine of them made it to safety. Two children, a brother and sister, were trapped under the boat and drowned. Martin was drunk.

On May 7 of this year, Martin was found guilty on two counts of boating while intoxicated and causing the deaths of the two children. He will learn June 29 if the judge will sentence him to any of the 10 years in prison the law allows for BUI in Vermont.

An analysis of more than 32,000 information sources on LexisNexis databases shows July is deemed by the U.S. Coast Guard to be the most dangerous boating month with an average of 157 deaths on waterways across the nation. Many of those deaths are blamed on lack of safety training and victims not wearing life jackets. But, according to the Coast Guard, alcohol is a factor in an overwhelming majority of the deaths. As a result, all U.S. states and territories now have boating under the influence laws.

“Drinking in a boat can be compounded by several environmental factors,” said Robert S. Reiff, a LexisNexis author and practicing attorney in the boating Mecca of Miami. “Hours on end in the wind and heat, motion, engine vibration can all combine to intensify the effects of any alcohol that has been consumed. It can also cause a person to appear to be intoxicated when they really aren’t.”

The LexisNexis search indicated that Coast Guard statistics list alcohol as a contributor in 31 percent of all boating fatalities in 2000. In 2001, that number jumped to 34 percent. Of those, 90 percent could have been avoided if victims had worn their life jackets. Further, the Coast Guard estimates boaters with a blood alcohol concentration above .10 percent are 10 times more likely to die if involved in a boating accident than those who have no alcohol in their system.

LexisNexis data shows states deal with BUI in different ways. The research included all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (the U.S. territories in this report are also referred to as states). Some treat it as a misdemeanor, handing out only fines and, occasionally, jail. Others consider it a felony. Practically all states, 51, have consent laws written into their statues, meaning that by virtue of operating a boat, the driver consents to being tested for alcohol. And, while some states simply charge violators separately for BUI, 11 states have enhanced laws that combine the conviction with driving records.

In Indiana and California, when a person is convicted of BUI, there is a mandatory driver’s license suspension through the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles, along with judicial proceedings. Minnesota BUI convictions could result in jail, fine, loss of driver’s license and confiscation of car license plates. Louisiana and Massachusetts law consider BUI and DUI the “same offenses.” New Jersey and New Hampshire will automatically suspend a driver’s license for 90 days upon conviction. Florida accumulates the two offenses and hands out enhanced penalties for repeat offenders.

Just as in most states for motor vehicle drivers, a boater can be charged for refusing to take a sobriety test everywhere but in Massachusetts, New Mexico, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Legal limits for adult intoxication vary by state, with 34 using .10 as the mark and 21 states using .08 as legally drunk. Only New Mexico has no set limit. Minors are considered legally drunk in seven states when they register .04, but, 16 states have zero tolerance for anyone under 21.

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