Deadly Boating Accidents on the Rise in Miami

While we spend much of our time educating our fellow Floridians about car accident prevention, as we live in the boating capital of American, Miami personal injury attorney Joseph Lipsky reminds us about the dangers which exist on our waterways.

While most people consider the Florida Keys as the boating accident leader, Miami Dade County sadly actually had double the amount of boating accident wrongful deaths than the Keys, making Miami Dade as the deadliest of Florida’s sixty-seven counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The study analyzed all “reportable” boating accidents which resulted in wrongful death, personal injury or over two thousand dollars of property damage, which actually dropped by over 15% of the past year. Yet, despite the drop of such accidents, there was actually a 20% increase in Florida’s boating accident which resulted in wrongful death over the same time period.

As the number of boaters on the waterways increases annually, because of the easy access we have to boating, Miami-Dade had almost 80 boating accidents. Considering there are more registered boats in Florida, than any other state, the number of serious boating accidents is not surprising.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation study also found that: May was the month with the most boating accidents; once an on-water accident happens, drowning becomes the leading cause of wrongful deaths; Alcohol and/or illegal drug use played a role in over 10 percent of wrongful death accidents.

As we enter the summer, and more people pursue boating for fun, fishing and diving, Miami personal injury lawyer Joseph Lipsky reminds all boaters to be safe, make sure they bring enough life vests for everyone on their boat and not to drink and driver.