When the Coast Guard released its annual boating accident report this month, Missouri — as it often has — found itself near the top of the rankings.
It had the fifth-most serious accidents reported of any state and the most of any inland state. It ranked 13th for boating-related fatalities, with 14.
The data aren’t perfect — accidents that aren’t reported to law enforcement don’t get counted — but of what does get reported, the number of accidents in Missouri has been trending downward since peaking in the mid-1990s.
Some of that appears to be driven by a decline in the number of incidents where alcohol is listed as a factor, according to a Post-Dispatch analysis of Coast Guard data. In addition, the state’s crown jewel, the Lake of the Ozarks, which has accounted for half of all incidents on Missouri waterways during the past 20 years, has experienced a fairly steady decline in accidents.
The Coast Guard counts accidents in which someone was killed or required medical attention, or when a vessel incurred at least $2,000 in damage or disappeared.
Missouri had 142 recorded accidents last year, and 65 were at the Lake of the Ozarks. That’s a steep drop from 1997, when there were 333 accidents, 159 of which were at the lake.
Mark Dickey has lived in Osage Beach, Mo., since 1980, and is the owner Captain Mike Fink’s Marina, which rents boats and jet skis. He said the reason accidents grab headlines each summer is simple: “We have a lot of boaters out here.”
According to Ameren Missouri, the 94-mile lake has about 25,000 docks. At the end of 2014, there were 294,000 active boat registrations in Missouri.
If you adjust the number of accidents for the number of boats registered by state, Missouri drops to 16th. The state ranks 29th for per-boat fatality rate.
Last year, there were five fatal accidents at the Lake of the Ozarks. That doesn’t take into account several drownings where a vessel wasn’t involved.
Last summer’s most high-profile tragedy involved Brandon Ellingson, 20, who fell out of a boat and drowned while handcuffed and in custody of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Dickey points out that the number of traffic deaths on Missouri roads dwarfs the number of deaths that occur on the water.
“I don’t think it’s unsafe at all,” he said. “I think occasionally, there are some unsafe boaters.” He has never witnessed an accident at the lake, he said.
But retired Missouri Water Patrol Maj. Jody Hughes saw plenty of deadly accidents during his 32-year career. Hughes retired in 2012, a year after the water patrol was merged into the highway patrol.
The lake is known for the traffic and rough water that can build up in its busier channels, but ultimately, Hughes said that inattention, inexperience and alcohol were the contributing factors in most of the accidents he responded to, an assertion that’s strongly supported by Coast Guard data.
That being said, Hughes noted that many factors, from changes in rules and regulations, education and awareness, and even the economy have helped reduce the number of accidents.
In 2005, Missouri began requiring anyone born after Jan. 1, 1984, to pass an approved boating safety course to get a license, which also applies to out-of-state residents. At the Lake of the Ozarks, no wake zones were created and a nighttime speed limit was added (There is no daytime limit).
Water patrol enforcement of boating while intoxicated laws also helped reduce alcohol-fueled crashes, Hughes said. The legal blood alcohol limit for BWI was reduced from 0.1 percent to 0.08 percent in 2008.
“It wasn’t uncommon to make 15-20 BWI arrests in a (nonholiday) weekend,” he said.
When he first started working at the lake, Hughes said many people viewed the water as “the last frontier” where they could “drink and party without having to worry.”
Now, he thinks the party atmosphere isn’t quite what it used to be, and that people are also getting better at assigning designated boat captains.
Last year, the highway patrol’s water patrol division made 72 BWI arrests at the lake, a significant reduction from previous years.
Statewide, the division has 77 officers, 15 of which the patrol said are primarily assigned to the lake. Hughes said that fewer officers were assigned full time to the lake after the water patrol was merged into the highway patrol.
Another factor that reduces boat traffic, at least in recent years, could be the economy. As impressive as the state’s 294,000 registered boats may seem, that figure has declined every year since 2010.
After a tough period in which a string of deaths occurred at the lake in 2007, Trish Creach, the executive director of the Camdenton Area Chamber of Commerce, helped found the Lake of the Ozarks Water Safety Council. The group has a two-pronged message, which it ramps up each year when warmer weather arrives: Get a designated captain and wear a life jacket.
Creach said 80 percent of water-related deaths could have been prevented by wearing a life jacket.
“We’re striving to change that statistic,” she said.
