Florida Injury Lawyer Blawg
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission sent out a public notice urging boaters to keep an eye out for divers-down flags in a month known statistically for a high rate of accidents on the water.
In their advisory, FWC encouraged boaters to avoid distraction and watch out for divers-down flags. These flags and buoys are essential warnings to approaching vessels that there are people in the water. These flags must have the divers-down symbol and be prominently displayed. When spotting a flag of this kind, boaters must operate at idle speed within 300 feet of the flag when in open water or within 100 feet when in inlets and or navigational channels. Divers must stay within the outlined distance of their flags.
Recent Incidents
News of tragedies on Florida waters in the Florida Keys, Miami-Dade County and Central Florida have dominated the headlines this summer. Over the July Fourth weekend, three back-to-back incidents in the Florida Keys saw the injury of at least eight people including a 12-year-old boy, and the death of at least one other person.
On July 14, one person died following a crash with a jet ski and a 42-foot vessel near the Broad Causeway in Bay Harbor Islands. Earlier this week in Central Florida, a woman was killed when she went overboard and was hit by the boat’s propellers.
Wednesday, a lobster diver was hit by a boat and transported via helicopter to a Miami-Dade County hospital with life-threatening injuries. That same day, four people had to be rescued by first responders after their boat began to sink in Monroe County. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported in that incident.
In its boating accident and water incident report for 2023, the latest available data showed that the majority of these incidents took place in July. Monroe and Miami-Dade County led the state with the most accidents for 2023 though Monroe County took the number one spot with over 80 crashes, three of which were fatal.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners has over four decades of representing clients who were injured on the water and families through devastating wrongful death cases at the hands of people like negligent boaters and recreational water sport rental companies. Attorneys with the firm approach each case with sympathy for their injured clients and an urgency to protect tourists and locals from suffering the same fate. The firm has issued several notices of its own this summer reminding people to never drink and boat, always wear a life jacket and to take the time to brush up on their skills in free boating safety courses offered by the FWC and other organizations.
Boating Safety
Below are several boating safety tips that may help you or your family if you ever find yourselves in an emergency on the water.
- Never drink and boat.
- Never go out boating without telling someone what area you are headed to and when they can expect you to be back. This is so that, in case of an emergency, someone will know that you did not return and can give rescue teams an area to begin searching for you.
- Take a boating education course
- Carry life vests approved by the Coast Guard for every person on board. Children should wear a life vest at all times when on a boat.
- Take advantage of free annual boat inspections offered by the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Never drink and boat
- Keep necessary emergency kits on board that include essential items like flare guns, fire extinguishers and first-aid kits.
- Never let children operate a personal watercraft.
