Al's Morning Meeting

Boating accidents and deaths are a real concern in our area, especially in the summer months. Using data from the U.S. Coast Guard, reporter Thomas Peele analyzed these accidents and found out that the majority of them are preventable and that it is far easier to obtain a boating license than it is to obtain a driver's license. To further illustrate the point, [the story was accompanied by] a Google mashup of the boating deaths in our area from 1996-2004 and an audio slideshow of the results of these accidents. The paper is holding a Q-and-A session online ... with a Coast Guard specialist and invites readers to submit questions.

The story includes this passage:

Eighty-eight percent of accidents in inland waters can be blamed on the behavior of boat drivers and passengers, such as speeding, drinking, inattention, overcrowding craft and letting people drive who lack the knowledge to do so safely, according to the data. In the Delta, that figure rose to 92 percent.

In contrast, the Coast Guard and the National Boating Safety Council report, the nationwide average for accidents blamed on boaters' behavior is 70 percent.

"We have so much power and strength in these boats now," said Chris Lauritzen, owner of an Oakley marina and a vice president of the California Marina Recreation Association. "There are boats out here that can go 70 mph. There are no brakes on a boat."

State law requires boaters to follow basic rules of the road. They must sound a horn when passing a boat going in the same direction. They must not go too fast for the immediate conditions, which on California's lakes and rivers are often crowded. They must raise a flag when someone is in the water around their boat, such as a skier waiting to be pulled.

But California is one of just 16 states that does not require boaters to take educational classes to learn those rules. There is no state boating license. There is no mandated training.

The data show the overwhelming need for the state to put in place mandatory training before allowing people to drive boats, Smith and other safety experts said.

"Training means less chance to make preventable mistakes," said Paul Newman, a Coast Guard recreational boating specialist.

To help you get local, click on this interactive map to see what your state law requires for boating licensure. Some states, such as Florida and South Carolina, allow boaters to take a "non-proctored" test, which can be taken online or without supervision. Other states, like Illinois, have a "proctored" test -- meaning it is administered in person. You can find information about individual states' boating laws here.

For years, the National Transportation Safety Board has asked state legislatures to adopt mandatory training. Here is testimony from the NTSB chairman in 2000.

The Contra Costa story explains:

Most of the states that have yet to adopt mandatory training are in the West, where there is still a culture "where folks don't want anyone to tell them what to do," [Bill] Gossard, [the NTSB's recreational boating safety program coordinator] said. "It's one of the last bastions of freedom."

Data from states that passed mandatory education show a reduction in accidents after the change. In Alabama, for example, annual boating deaths dropped 44 percent in five years, according to Coast Guard data.

Some people involved in boating might agree to training if it was made clear to them how such a system would work, said Don Abbott, executive director of the California Yacht Brokers Association.

"We really don't want licenses. Who's going to do it? What do you do about rental places? Right now, there are too many 'what-ifs,'" he said. "We need something, but how are we going to do it?"

Boating Deaths by the Numbers

The feds keep statistics on boating accidents. [PDF] You have to be careful with these numbers. Because not every accident gets reported, they do not include accidents that involve less than $2,000 in damage and so on.

Current regulations (33 CFR 173.55) require the operator of any vessel, numbered or used
for recreational purposes, to file a Boating Accident Report (BAR) when, as a result of an
occurrence that involves the vessel or its equipment:

1. A person dies; or
2. A person is injured and requires medical treatment beyond first aid, i.e. treatment at a medical facility or by a medical professional other than at the accident scene; or
3. Damage to vessels and other property totals $2,000 or more or there is a complete loss of any vessel; or
4. A person disappears from the vessel under circumstances that indicate death or injury.

Boat operators are required to report their accidents to authorities in the jurisdiction where the accident occurred. Reports are required to be made within 48 hours of an occurrence if:

1. A person dies within 24 hours of the occurrence; or
2. A person requires medical treatment beyond first aid; or
3. A person disappears from the vessel.

Boating fatalities have declined for several years, despite an increase in the number of craft on the water. Serious injuries have remained fairly constant. What has safety experts worried is that, as waterways get more crowded with more boaters, the waterways will get more dangerous. Here are some numbers of interest from 2004, the last year compiled:

• In 2004, States and jurisdictions reported a total of 12,781,476 registered recreational boats compared to 12,794,616 in 2003. The 4,904 boating accidents reported in 2004 resulted in 676 fatalities, 3,363 injuries, and $35,038,306 in property damage.
• Approximately seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned (484 out of 676). Approximately 90 percent of the victims who drowned were not wearing their personal flotation device (PFD [personal flotation device] or life jacket). Overall, fatal accident data show approximately 431 lives could have been saved last year if boaters had worn their life jackets.
• The most-reported type of accident was a collision with another vessel. However, capsizing and falls overboard are the most-reported types of fatal accidents and accounted for [more than] half (57 percent) of all boating fatalities. Boat operators need to pay attention to the capacity label on their boat and be careful not to overload small boats (less than 16 feet) with passengers and/or gear.
• Overall, carelessness/reckless operation, operator inattention, operator inexperience and excessive speed are the leading contributing factors of all reported accidents.
• The most common types of boats involved in reported accidents were open motorboats (42 percent), personal watercraft (PWC) (25 percent) and cabin motorboats (15 percent). Increases were observed in the number of reported fatalities involving pontoon boats (27) and canoes and kayaks (98) from 2003. A decrease was observed in the number of fatalities involving cabin motorboats (42) from the number of fatalities reported in 2003.
• The number of reported injuries involving PWC use continued along a downward trend and has decreased every year since 1996.
• Fourteen ... children age 12 and under lost their lives while boating in 2004 compared to 27 children in 2003.
• Approximately 70 percent of all reported fatalities occurred on boats where the operator had not received boating safety instruction.
• Alcohol was involved in approximately one-third of all boating fatalities in 2004.
  

Cashing In on Higher Interest

If you are borrowing money these days, then last week's Fed-induced interest rate increase is not good news. But you can make money off rising interest rates.

Money market and CD (certificate of deposit) interest rates have not looked this good in years.

Some CDs are now paying darn close to 5 percent interest.

The good news for investors is that money market accounts are liquid, meaning you can cash them out when you need the dough. CDs have a time frame attached to them -- from a few months to several years. Usually, the longer you are willing to tie up your money, the higher the interest you will earn.

Seniors, especially, love these investments -- but they had not been attractive in the years of low interest rates.

Look to banks and online investment sites, which will inevitably aggressively market their rates.

Here is a cool calculator that you can use to see the difference that a small percentage change in interest can make on a given amount of money over time.

Cool Independence Day Interactive

It is hard to come up with new ways to photograph fireworks for the newspaper. But The Washington Post did it anyway. The paper's day-after-Independence Day multimedia project allows the user to take a 360-degree look at the fireworks on the National Mall, including sounds of the audience's oohhs and aahhhs. I have to get one of those 360-degree camera setups.

It's All My Brother's Fault

As I'd suspected, a good bit of what is wrong with me is my brother's fault. And I have new research to back it up. Whatever is right about me probably is due to my angelic sister.

Time magazine's cover story says:

Your parents raised you. Your spouse lives with you. But it's your brothers and sisters who really shaped you.

The story certainly is worth your time. Look at this passage as an example. It explains how sibling fights can actually be a good thing:

The first thing that strikes contemporary researchers when they study siblings is the sheer quantity of time the kids spend in one another's presence and the power this has to teach them social skills. By the time children are 11, they devote about 33 percent of their free time to their siblings -- more time than they spend with friends, parents, teachers or even by themselves -- according to a well-regarded Penn State University study published in 1996. Later research, published last year, found that even adolescents, who have usually begun going their own way, devote at least 10 hours a week to activities with their siblings -- a lot when you consider that with school, sports, dates and sleep, there aren't a whole lot of free hours left. In Mexican-American homes, where broods are generally bigger, the figure tops 17 hours.

"In general," says psychologist Daniel Shaw of the University of Pittsburgh, "parents serve the same big-picture role as doctors on grand rounds. Siblings are like the nurses on the ward. They're there every day." All that proximity breeds an awful lot of intimacy -- and an awful lot of friction.

Laurie Kramer, professor of applied family studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has found that, on average, sibs between 3 and 7 years old engage in some kind of conflict 3.5 times an hour. Kids in the 2-to-4 age group top out at 6.3 -- or more than one clash every 10 minutes, according to a Canadian study. "Getting along with a sister or brother," Kramer says dryly, "can be a frustrating experience."

But as much as all the fighting can set parents' hair on end, there's a lot of learning going on too, specifically about how conflicts, once begun, can be settled.

The story also cites a study that says 65 percent of mothers and 70 percent of fathers exhibited a preference for one child, in most cases the older one. That fact alone will send people to counseling.

The story says that, when an older teenage sister gets pregnant, a younger sister is four to six times more likely than otherwise to also become a pregnant teen. The same pattern holds for smoking and drinking.

The story also says that boys with older sisters and girls with older brothers tend to have easier times striking up conversations with the opposite sex.