Do you wear a life jacket when you go out on your boat? Really?

In the Mad Mariner Poll, 60 percent of boat owners claimed to wear lifejackets, but a Coast Guard study puts that number closer to 21 percent.

If you sense some skepticism, there's a good reason for it. A nationwide poll commissioned by Mad Mariner shows more than 40 percent of U.S. boat owners confess they don't wear life jackets when they're out on the water.

This suggests that 60 percent do put them on–not a bad number, considering the broad perception among safety experts that most boaters are negligent when it comes to donning lifesaving gear.

But there appears to be a disparity between what boaters say and what they actually do.

An annual Coast Guard survey that reports the number of boaters who actually are observed wearing life jackets by special tracking teams shows that only about 21 percent actually had them on while underway in 2007–one of the lowest yearly "wear–rates" on record, according to Coast Guard officials.

What's more, even that seems optimistic when you exclude children under 13 and boaters driving personal watercraft, both groups who are required to wear life jackets by federal and state laws. When you take PWC operators out of the equation, the wear–rate drops to 16.9 percent. When you exclude children as well, it plummets to 8.4 percent.

DEADLY DECISION

The issue is important. Coast Guard statistics show that some two–thirds of all fatal boating accidents each year are caused by drowning, and a full 90 percent of those who die are not wearing a life jacket or using another flotation device. In 2006, the latest year for which such figures are available, some 710 persons were killed in boat–related accidents.

So why the huge disparity between what people say and what they are observed doing?

"It's common in surveys where people are asked for their recollections," says Jeff Hoedt, chief of the Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety, which commissions the "wear–rate" study each year. "Often as much as 35 percent or more say they always wear their life jackets. But that's not what we observe."

Chris Edmonston, vice president of the BoatU.S. Foundation, which helps promote the use of life jackets nationwide, agrees.

"People who are asked to recollect how often they use life jackets often exaggerate, and say they wear them more often than they do," Edmonston says. "Often they'll report the most recent periods they remember."

Boating safety officials say the numbers show how big a task they face in persuading boaters to wear life jackets. While instructors have begun urging students to wear their jackets all the time, and manufacturers have begun making inflatable PFDs that are more comfortable in hot weather, the overall wear–rate has not changed.

"The only categories in which there have been major increases have been where wearing a life–vest is mandated by law," Hoedt says.

COMMON SENSE FACTOR

Moreover, the overall figures don't tell the full story. The proportion of boaters who regularly wear life jackets is far higher for those who boat on smaller craft such as paddle–boats, canoes, kayaks, dinghies and small sailboats–which can swamp more easily–than it is for those large powerboats and sailboats.

Lifejacket usage increases on small boats, where boaters are more likely to wind up in the drink. For youths on small sailboats, it exceeds 80 percent. Coast Guard figures show that more than 50 percent of adults using paddle–boats actually wear life jackets, while among those who do their boating on inboard or stern–driven powerboats, the rate is only 2.8 percent. By contrast, the wear–rate among youths who operate small sailboats, where they're likely to get dunked more often, exceeds 80 percent.

Edmonston says boaters tend to wear life jackets more readily when they feel more at risk–when they're not very experienced; are out boating by themselves, with no other crew members; or are going out in high winds, choppy seas, or cold weather.

"Common sense prevails," Edmonston says.

Surprisingly, BoatU.S.'s experience suggests that most drowning deaths occur while a vessel is being used for fishing–when it's moving ahead at clutch–speed for trolling, or just drifting, often in calm waters.

"Even people who have a lot of boating experience become complacent in such situations," Edmonston says. "They don't pay attention and unexpectedly fall overboard, and they're not wearing a life jacket."

Far too often, he says, they drown before anyone notices or can rescue them.

AGE DIFFERENCE

The Mad Mariner Poll queried 400 U.S. boat owners on a broad range of topics, and its findings yielded a range of unique information, from the true impact of fuel prices to first–time insights into the role of women in the sport. The 30–question poll was conducted for Mad Mariner in June by Mountain West Research Center, an Idaho–based polling firm, using secure surveys delivered and completed online. The margin of error was 5 percentage points.

Children and PWC riders are required by law to wear lifejackets.

The poll found that 60 percent of those interviewed say they wear life jackets always or almost always, while 40 percent say they either never or almost never do.

Boaters in the 30–to–39–year–old age group were the most life–jacket conscious of the sample. Some 65 percent of them say they regularly wore life jackets, while 35 percent confessed that they don't. The worst performance comes in the over 70 group: Only 25 percent said they always wear life jackets, while 75 percent say they rarely, if ever, do.

The Coast Guard report, titled 2007 Life Jacket Wear–Rate Observation Study: Final Report, was compiled by the JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., which sent two-person observation teams to monitor life jacket use for four-hour periods at specially selected sites in 30 states—a procedure similar to that for tracking seat-belt use in cars.
The survey tracked 14,567 boats carrying 41,978 boaters.

Under federal regulations, boats must carry one life jacket for each person on board. All must bear a label certifying that they are Coast-Guard-approved; must be in good and serviceable condition; and must be the appropriate size for the intended user. They also must be readily accessible, not wrapped in a box or package.