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WHAT RECREATIONAL BOATERS CAN DO
- Towboats and barges approaching bridges and locks must be lined up and committed to their approach well ahead, and it's dangerous and difficult for them to change course. For safety, stay out of their path.
- Designate a lookout. Assign one person in a recreational boat to look out, particularly for commercial traffic.
- Understand whistle signals. At least five or more short blasts on the whistle is the "danger" signal. Stay clear of vessels sounding the "danger" signal.
- Don't water ski or jet ski in and around tows. That's a risk not worth taking. Jumping wakes, riding close alongside, or cutting under the bow or stern of a tug or tow could cause a boat or skier to be sucked through a towboat's large propellers.
- Avoid carge loading docks and "parked" or moored vessels in fleeting areas. There are many loading areas, or "terminals," along the nation's inland and coastal waterways. Stay clear!
- Wear a life jacket at all times. Over 82 percent of those killed in boating accidents in recent years were not wearing life jackets.
- Don't operate a boat while drinking alchol or using drugs. It is estimated that more than half of all recreational boating fatalities are related to alchol. It's proven that the marine environment compounds the effects of alchol.
- Watch for ship, tug or towboat lighting at night-don't rely on trying to hear a vessel approaching. Pay attention to the sidelights of tugs and tows, rather than the masthead lights (masthead lights are not displayed by pusher towboats on the Western rivers, making it even more critical to keep a sharp lookout). If you see both sidelights (red and green), you're dead ahead, and in the path of danger.
Use safe anchorages. Coast Guard navigation aids, like buoys, mark channels for shipping, and it is illegal and dangerous to tie up to them. Each year commercial vessels ram and sink boats anchored in navigation channels or tied to buoys.
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