Michael, these are the jet ski injury statistics from the Journal of the American Medical Association:
Injuries from Personal Watercraft Increase
Dramatically
More specific training recommended
CHICAGO-Personal watercraft (PWC) injuries have increased four
fold in a five-year period and users are eight times more likely to suffer
an injury than people on motorboats, according to an article in the
August 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical
Association (JAMA).
Christine M. Branche, Ph.D., from the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga., and colleagues estimated the relative
frequency, types of injury and demographic features of persons injured
while using PWC in the U.S. The study included data on people
treated for PWC-related injuries (an estimated 32,954) from January
1, 1990 through December 31, 1995. The most common injuries from
PWC (often known as a jet ski) are lacerations, contusions, and
fractures.
The authors write: "Based on national estimates, injuries associated
with PWC use have increased four-fold from an estimated 2,860 in
1990 to more than 12,000 in 1995. During the same period, there was
a three-fold increase in the number of PWC in operation from
approximately 241,500 in 1990 to an estimated 760,000 in 1995 ...
The rate of injuries related to PWC treated in emergency departments
(EDs) was about 8.5 times higher than the rate of ED-treated injuries
from motorboats."
The researchers note that the use of PWC in water recreation is
relatively new, but has increased rapidly since 1990. Personal
watercraft are less than 13 feet in length and are designed to be
operated by persons sitting, standing, or kneeling on the craft instead
of within the confines of the hull. These watercraft are cheaper, allow
swifter movement and attain faster speeds in less time compared with
larger, motor-driven boats.
The authors offer several recommendations to help prevent injuries to
PWC users. "Specific training for PWC users would be appropriate,
much like training that is offered for persons operating boats. Given the
fast speeds that can be achieved on PWC, training requirements and
enforcement may reduce the number of injuries considerably."
Other recommendations by the authors include adult supervision of
minors who use PWC, extending right-of-way guidelines currently in
place for boat operators to PWC users, implementing guidelines for
maintaining safe distances and speeds and emphasizing the importance
of wearing life jackets. They add that more research is needed to
determine the appropriate method for both head and extremity
protection.
The correlation between alcohol use and PWC injuries was not
determined in this study.
Of the PWC-related injuries severe enough to require hospitalization
(1,155 patients), 32 percent occurred after falling off the PWC and 33
percent after collisions. Seventy-five percent of the collisions were
between PWC.
(JAMA.1997;278:663-665)
I am usually pretty careful when I consider whether statistics are probably correct or not. Those listed in medical journals, used in court cases like the one over jet ski use in the San Juan Islands, or published in major newspapers are generally reliable, simply because if they are not, they are challenged because readership is so widespread.
In this case, these are the same statistics I gave you in the url. Instead of absorbing them, you decided to refute them, apparently, by saying that they represented increases, not hard cold data. But, as you can see, it appears that 32,954 people were injured between 1990 and 1995.
I would agree that jet skis could be a lot safer, and a lot less polluting. It is too bad the manufacturers weren't more responsible when they designed and refined these vehicles. Now they will have to be, since the courts have gotten involved.
I never advocated a total ban, incidentally. I don't think they are appropriate in national parks, however. Maybe private investors could build lakes where there are no endangered creatures, and no homes where people have a reasonable expectation of tranquility, and open jet ski parks!!! Free enterprise in motion!!!
You have still not explained why your right to exploit and disturb and destroy nature overrides mine to enjoy it in a relatively peaceful manner. It sounds like you think you have a lot more rights than I do! |
