Saving kids

I’d like to start a conversation about saving lives before next year’s boating/swimming season.

I’m looking for a way to prevent kids from drowning. Every time it happens it’s a gut punch. Part of the issue is getting pfd’s on the kids and another is educating adults. It doesn’t do any good when the jacket is hanging on the garage wall or that the jacket isn’t there in the first place.

I know I could buy several dozen jackets but how do I get them on the kids that need them. And how do I get the adults to understand how important is use them every time.

I don’t know of an organization that fills what I see as a great need. If someone would take my donation along with many others and leverage it with contributions from large and small retailers, lives could be saved.

Adults should know the risk they take but children don’t. They need our help.

Make life jackets mandatory until age 18. Attach a large fine for non-compliance. We certainly don’t need more laws but when adults aren’t smart enough to require life jackets we have to turn to lawmakers i guess. Seatbelts certainly worked.

Hennepin County has a program teaching Swimming to Low Income youth.

I see and feel the same, see too many people not wearing them.
A Very Close and good friend at age 70 fell out of his boat last fall, Surface Temp was 54f, he survived thanks to his fishing partner helping get him back in the boat and having a dry set of clothes with.

He got home and weighed his remaining wet clothes, over 20# and no, he wasn’t wearing his life vest. He said he will always wear one now, bought a new auto inflatable.

Maybe we can get Stearns or another Manufacturer to help.

I noticed in Racine Wi that they had a “borrow a life vest” type box at the city dock for Lake Michigan. Not sure what it was actually called, how it works or how it is that these don’t get ripped off but somehow it must have a useful purpose?

My rule has always been that anyone under 18 is wearing one if they are in the boat or even swimming at an island.

We had a family member drown after having a seizure on a dock & getting taken in the current many years ago.

I have seen the same program at the 494 launches and at Hidden Falls. It’s a good start but education and lessons are a necessity.

Life jackets great idea but if your in or around water you should know how to swim.

Dutchboy wrote:

Make life jackets mandatory until age 18. Attach a large fine for non-compliance. We certainly don’t need more laws but when adults aren’t smart enough to require life jackets we have to turn to lawmakers i guess. Seatbelts certainly worked.

I’m not a big fan of adding laws either, but a mandatory until 16 or 18 year old regulation would get my support. There’s just not enough COs or sheriff department enforcement on the water either. I’d wager less than a third of the pleasure boaters on P4 on a weekend are sober AND have proper pfds “readily accessible”

I’d disagree about the sherif boats needing to be out more to harass folks. My recollection of the st croix river at Prescott was that we were constantly pestered by those clowns. They didn’t even know what “no wake” meant. I got to the point where I avoided the gauntlet there.

I can think of about three times ever on P4 or P5, where I’ve seen obvious drunk monkeys on the water. Most are very responsible. I’ll have 2 beers with me most times but usually only have one at the end of our time on the river. The last thing anyone wants is to get a DWI or be responsible for their friend’s/family’s injuries or death on the water. There are always the exceptions but I bet it’s pretty rare.

More laws won’t stop crime or stupidity.

Underway make it illegal for any age to not wear one, the current MN reg for kid under 10 to always be wearing one is just fine by me.

Any activity carries inherit risk. Can’t protect everyone.

Here is a bit of education:

https://www.soundingsonline.com/voices/drowning-doesnt-look-like-drowning?fbclid=IwAR2B9BR-NivMKfXR-JbiJOV9tuTMdo6YtPmhgJnUrFfwvfIuj_-HDuEzJFc

Deuces wrote:

the current MN reg for kid under 10 to always be wearing one is just fine by me

I think the laws we have are fine, just increasing everyone’s awareness is where the most attention should go. We call them boat coats, and they go on the kids anytime they are by water. Also, often overlooked are POOLS, a family friend lost their son in a pool at a family gathering with 10 adults around, it truly is silent and devastating.

A while back we used to get stopped on the river fairly often by CO’s checking PFD’s. Their entire purpose was to reward kids wearing PFD’s with free DQ coupons and to educate and reinforce the importance. They didn’t check licenses, live wells, registration, nothing else. I thought that was cool but haven’t seen them in a while so maybe they lost funding or are focused on different bodies of water.

Deuces wrote:

Any activity carries inherit risk. Can’t protect everyone.

Agree with this. The laws we have are pretty solid actually. Enforcement seems spotty but they can’t be everywhere all the time.

I don’t think we need more COs or law enforcement on the water either. I like my solitude on the water and don’t need someone boating up to me to check me out or waste my time, even though I am doing nothing wrong.

We live on the water during the spring and summer and my kids ALWAYS have their lifejackets on. I understand that accidents happen, and that is horrible to think about, but I don’t think that will change by adding more rules and laws.

Having said that, some type of program that would offer hand-me-down lifejackets for kids and increase awareness I am all for.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I don’t think we need more COs or law enforcement on the water either. I like my solitude on the water and don’t need someone boating up to me to check me out or waste my time, even though I am doing nothing wrong.

We live on the water during the spring and summer and my kids ALWAYS have their lifejackets on. I understand that accidents happen, and that is horrible to think about, but I don’t think that will change by adding more rules and laws.

Wait wait. You don’t want CO’s on the water because it’s an inconvenience to you?

tangler wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lindyrig79 wrote:</div>
I don’t think we need more COs or law enforcement on the water either. I like my solitude on the water and don’t need someone boating up to me to check me out or waste my time, even though I am doing nothing wrong.

We live on the water during the spring and summer and my kids ALWAYS have their lifejackets on. I understand that accidents happen, and that is horrible to think about, but I don’t think that will change by adding more rules and laws.

Wait wait. You don’t want CO’s on the water because it’s an inconvenience to you?

I don’t think the answer is adding more, specifically to trying to save kids lives. Yes that is correct.

Mandatory on kids till 16 in my opinion. We already have helmets till 18 for atv/utv operation and riding along.

On a different note 3 years ago my BIL and I got checked on the water by County Sheriff boat. 2 officers and neither of them had on pfd.??? I asked how come they weren’t wearing them and 1 of them went off on me about the law “only requires them to be in the boat”. So much for setting a good example.
By the way BIL and I had ours on.

What exactly would be the law that is wanted here by folks?

Guess noone is gonna argue people need to wear more lifevests more often.

Minnesota Law:
Minnesota law requires one U.S. Coast Guard approved, properly sized, and easily accessible life jacket for each person on the boat. All children under ten are required to wear an approved life jacket at all times while in a boat.

WI Law: (border waters included)
All vessels (including canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards) must have at least one USCG–approved wearable personal flotation device or PFD (life jacket) for each person on board. … Federal law requires children under the age of 13 to wear a USCG–approved PFD while underway in an open vessel on federally controlled waters.

(WI Water Patrol Boats do not enforce Federal Laws in most cases. Since WI doesn’t have a law for children needing to wear a PFD, the Federal Laws are seldom if ever enforced on the border waters. Inland waters has no laws in WI.)

US Coast Guard (Federal Laws)
On a vessel underway, children under 13 must wear an appropriate Coast Guard-approved PFD, unless they are below decks or in an enclosed cabin. … Additionally, a boat 16′ in length or greater, except canoes and kayaks) must have a throwable flotation device. See specific state requirements for life jackets.

The best way to get kids to wear a pfd is to set the example PERIOD. No need to look for new or more laws. Just practice what we preach.

BTW: The Harbor bar has PFD’s to loan out at no charge along with the WI Back Channel Ramp.

Have been checked by the same two COs on pool 4 three times in the last three months. License, jackets, live well. Don’t mind at all, nice guys and willing to share information. If you can come up with a plan I’m willing to support with money and or time.

Isn’t there a rule that anyone under 16 is suppose to have a life jacket on when on the Mississippi because it is a federal water way? I was always worried about that when my kids where in that 13-16 age range when out. They were all very strong swimmers and we lightened up on them having to wear a jacket at age 13 and older unless we were making a long ride wide open.

jld wrote:

Isn’t there a rule that anyone under 16 is suppose to have a life jacket on when on the Mississippi because it is a federal water way?

I just saw Brian’s post on the age. I agree with him. No new laws needed, just better execution.

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mr.Beads wrote:</div>
the current MN reg for kid under 10 to always be wearing one is just fine by me

I think the laws we have are fine, just increasing everyone’s awareness is where the most attention should go. We call them boat coats, and they go on the kids anytime they are by water. Also, often overlooked are POOLS, a family friend lost their son in a pool at a family gathering with 10 adults around, it truly is silent and devastating.

I’ve responded to a few of these and it’s pretty scary how easily it can happen. A lot of times the parents aren’t paying attention but it can easily happen to parents that are being responsible as well. Very overlooked in my opinion.

I’m not sure but I think more kids drown from shore or in pools. What I have seen from my dock or when boating is that boaters with young kids generally have them in jackets.

I have found information about loaner programs at public launches. That’s a great idea but I think most boaters know the law and follow it. What is missing is availability of jackets at uncle Bob’s cabin because he doesn’t have kids. Or parents don’t put them in jackets because they are told to stay out of the water. But kids don’t always listen.

Somehow we need to find a way to both educate parents and also provide jackets. Also we need to teach them that an air mattress or inter tube is not a PDF.