- Nebraska, Washington, and Massachusetts have seen the most significant decreases in boating accidents in five years. However, they doubled in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas since 2019.
- Fatal boating accidents are now rarer, especially in Wyoming, Vermont, Missouri, Indiana and Louisiana.
- Boats are safer now, but Americans operate them less and less responsibly, especially while drunk, the same study has found.
New research has named the states with the highest decrease in boating accidents over the past five years. Nebraska, Washington and Massachusetts topped the rankings after halving their 2019 statistics. Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas had the lowest scores, with boating accidents soaring by 106-135%.
The study, carried out by Florida personal injury lawyers Anidjar and Levine, analyzed all vessel accidents reported from the beginning of 2019 until the end of 2023 through the National Recreational Boating Safety Program of the US Coast Guard. These were correlated with the number of registered water crafts up until the end of 2019 and 2023 in order to proportionally include landlocked states and those with limited water access.
Top 10 States with the Highest Decrease in Boating Accidents (2019-2023)
Nebraska ranks first for best tackling the occurrence of boating accidents over the past five years. In 2019, there were 24 accidents for every 100,000 vessels registered up until the end of the year. This figure dropped by 57.5% to around 10 accidents per 100,000 vessels registered by the end of 2023.
Notably, however, Nebraska already seemed to have a good grasp of preventing boating accidents, counting only 19 in 2019 and 8 by the end of 2023. Each year, one or two people, on average, lost their lives, totaling eight fatalities over five years. Nebraska sits in the lower mid-range among all US states for the number of vessel registrations by the end of 2023.
Washington is the second safest state for boating activities, halving the number of accidents it had five years earlier. These went from 45 accidents per 100,000 registered vessels in 2019 to just 21 in 2023.
During this period, the number of vessels registered in Washington decreased by 3.5%. Surprisingly, while the number of accidents also decreased from 106 in 2019 to 52 in 2023, these caused roughly the same number of deaths. A total of 110 people died while boating in Washington within five years, with yearly tolls fluctuating from 27 in 2019, up by one the following year, then halving in 2021, only to pick up the pace again in the following two years to 18 and 23 deaths, respectively. This means that, while more rarely, these accidents see little improvement in how many deaths they cause.
Massachusetts had the third highest decrease in boating accidents, nearly halving its statistics within five years. There were 79 accidents in 2019, which means around 62 for every 100,000 vessels, down to just 41 in 2023, or 31 accidents per 100,000 watercraft. A contributing factor to improving accident rates is that there were fewer vessels registered by the end of 2023 (127,685) compared to 2019 (132,106).
Importantly, Massachusetts recorded an increase in fatalities during the same period. Although it ranked as the 20th state with the lowest five-year toll, this trend is indirectly proportional to the rate at which boating accidents decrease. In other words, boating accidents in Massachusetts are rarer but have higher mortality rates.
Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas are at the opposite end of the ranking, with the highest increase in boating accidents over the past five years. Oklahoma and Arkansas both saw a 135% rise in boating accidents, relative to how many vessels are registered. In Kansas, these increased by 106%.
Across the nation, there were generally fewer vessels registered compared to five years ago. By the end of 2023, America counted 11,546,512 vessels, 2.8% less than in 2019. Within US states, the total number of accidents has decreased by 7.8% from 4,148 in 2019 to 3,825 in 2023. Fatalities decreased at a slightly higher rate of 8.1%, from 606 deaths in 2019 to 557 five years later.
This, however, is not as fast-paced for accidents leading to at least one death, meaning that, while fewer boating accidents and fewer deaths occurred since 2019, they remain deadly, but with fewer deaths per accident than before. Specifically fatal accidents decreased at a slower pace of 4.7% in the past five years.
Still, the states that succeeded the most in reducing fatal boating accidents are Wyoming, Vermont, Missouri, Indiana, Louisiana and Virginia. They had at least a 60% reduction in accidents leading to at least one death over the past five years.
Top 10 States with the Highest Decrease in Fatal Boating Accidents (2019-2023)
Operating the vessel incorrectly remains the leading cause of death in boating accidents. Examples include alcohol and drug use, speeding, failure to vent, improper lookout, inadequate onboard navigation lights, violating navigation rules, operator’s distraction and inexperience, restricted vision, sharp turns and starting in gear. Of all of these, alcohol use always causes the most deaths during boating accidents. There was also a slight decline in safely operating watercraft over the past five years. On average, there was one death for every 15.38 boating accidents.
The environment is the third most common category, whose factors contribute the most to boating accident fatalities. They caused one in nearly 40 deaths. This relates to the weather, congested or hazardous waters, wave force, inadequate or missing navigation aid, dams and locks. The fatalities attributed to environmental factors fluctuated over the past five years, with no consistent direction.
Failure of boats and their equipment has always been the rarest cause of boating death, and this is increasingly so, suggesting perhaps higher standards at the point of sale. One death in 179 boating accidents over the past five years occurred due to a boat or equipment failure.
Primary Contributing Factor Categories of Accidents and Casualties (2019-2023)
A spokesperson for Anidjar and Levine commented on the findings: “There was a consistent uptick in boating accident statistics in 2020, which more likely points towards an excess of adventurousness during the pandemic than medical factors. Aside from this, it’s a relief that, in the medium term, nearly 50 fewer people died in boating accidents in America in 2023 compared to 2019.
However, this strangely translates into boating accidents, though happening less and less, becoming fatal more often. Massachusetts is a prime example of this. Boats rarely fail and cause someone to die nowadays. There appears to be an improvement at the manufacturers’ level, but we keep operating them more irresponsibly. In 2019, 13.3% of boating accidents were fatal, whereas in 2023, there were 13.7%.
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