ALCOHOL INVOLVEMENT IN RECREATIONAL BOATING - IMPLICATIONS FOR SAFETYREGULATION

The intent of the recently enacted federal anti-alcohol recreational b oating legislation is to reduce boating accidents by reducing alcohol consumption by boat operators. This legislation implicitly assumes tha t alcohol consumption by operators is a determinant of operators being at fault in boating accidents. The results of this paper, based on a multivariate analysis of microdata, support this assumption for non-fa tal but not for fatal boating accidents. However, alcohol involvement was found to be a significant determinant of the severity of boating a ccidents (i.e. fatal versus non-fatal accidents). These results sugges t that alcohol involvement causes boating fatalities but does not caus e the operator to be at fault in fatal boating accidents. A policy imp lication is that laws proscribing intoxication during boating should b e directed not just at operators, but at all water recreationists.