About the Wear It Florida Campaign
Hi there! Welcome to the Wear It Florida site. This site is likely to be the most exiting and innovative effort aimed at saving lives on Florida’s waterways. Did you know that Florida has the unfortunate distinction of leading the nation in the annual number of boating deaths? It’s true. You probably also didn’t know that most of the people who die on Florida’s water lost their lives as a result of drowning.
Several trends come to the surface when you look at boating accident statistics. It is easy to identify the most likely victims: they are men over 30 years of age who have plenty of boating experience, who know how to swim, and who are in boats less than 20 feet long in fairly calm weather conditions. They usually go overboard unexpectedly for any variety of reasons, and in most cases they swim for a while until they become exhausted. Unfortunately, these incidents are much more common than most people would imagine. For the complete story
Boating Perceptions
Perception: The problem on the water is all the drunk boaters.- Perception: If it wasn’t for the personal watercraft, the water would be a much safer place to be.
- Perception: It’s all the young, inexperienced boat operators who are causing the problems.
- Perception: The big, open waters like the Gulf or Atlantic are where boaters are at greatest risk.
- Perception: Big boats going too fast—that’s the problem.
- Perception: If everyone had the proper safety equipment on their boat, then people wouldn’t be drowning as a result of boating accidents.
- Perception: Boating accidents are pretty rare, so they really aren’t too big of a deal.
- Get the Facts—Please see “Boating Perceptions Vs. Reality
