RENO BOAT ACCIDENT LAWYER
Reno Nevada Boating Injury Accident Attorney
Accidents involving Personal Water Craft involve may involve numerous legal issues regarding liability and insurance coverage. Deaths from boating accidents rose 1500% between 1987 and 1998 and personal watercraft operators are injured 8.5x s often as operators of other types of watercrafts.
A personal watercraft is currently classified as a Class A inboard boat, operated without a rudder, brake, or reverse throttle mechanism. Due to this design, these devices are very dangerous to operate by an untrained or underage person. People without adequate age or experience will release the throttle in an attempt to avoid a collision. However, once the water jet is disengaged, control of the personal watercraft is lost.
Two personal watercraft operators traveling at 40mph head on will only have 1.3 seconds to react to avoid a collision. Due to this limited reaction time, a user’s youth and inexperience often play a role in the accident. Roughly 84% of the personal watercraft accidents involve operators who had no boating safety education or instruction AND 73% had been riding for less than 1 hour when the accident occurred. Finally, 48% of those injured had never operated a personal watercraft or had done so only once. (National Transportation Safety Board Study: PWC Safety – 1998)
