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Coast Guard Auxiliary Urges Safer Boating
Monday, January 04, 2010
PITTSBURGH, PA -- The Coast Guard Auxliiary, Flotilla 78, is offering four easy-to-follow tips to those who resolve to be safer boaters and water enthusiasts this year:
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Always wear your life jacket. Statistics show time and again that these personal flotation devices or PFDs save lives. It's like wearing a seat belt while driving or riding in a vehicle. Resolve to wear one anytime you are on or near the water.
- Be prepared -- take a safe boating course. Think of this as takng a driver's education course for your boat. Eighty percent of those involved in boating fatalities never had any instruction. Visit www.cgaux.org to find a class near you.
- Get a free Vessel Safety Check (VSC). A check to make sure your boat is properly equipped, in good operating condition, and free of hazards is free for the asking. To request one, visit www.safetyseal.net, and click on "I WANT A VSC."
- Avoid alcohol while on or near the water. At least 40 percent of all boating fatalities involve the use of alcohol. If you are drunk and get into an accident on the water, you could be subject to large fines and the loss of automobile driving privileges. Alcohol can also affect your passengers who are ten times more likely, in the event of an accident, to fall overboard and drown.
By following these tips, the Auxiliary hopes that you and your passengers will enjoy a safe 2010 on the water and will be around to make additional resolutions next year.
The Auxiliary is composed of uiformed, non-military volunteers who assist the U.S. Coast Guard in all of its varied missions, except for military and direct law enforcement.
Submitted by:
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary
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