Abstract
Background
Alcohol is a factor in at least 60% of boating-related fatalities. Prior literature has shown that 30%–40% of the participants drank alcohol while boating, and they seldom knew the laws or dangers associated with alcohol ingestion while boating. To our knowledge, this is the first study to directly approach boaters at the dock to assess participants' knowledge regarding alcohol impairment while boating.
Methods
This was a cross-sectional survey of a convenience sample of boaters aged 21 and older at 4 lakes in Illinois during July 2011. Participants were asked to fill out an 8-question survey covering knowledge about alcohol use and boating. Chi-square analysis was used to assess knowledge differences by demographic variables, as well as boat ownership and seating position. Kruskal-Wallis assessed differences by education level.
Results
210 surveys were analyzed. The majority of participants correctly answered 4 of the 5 knowledge questions, including 84% correctly reporting the watercraft blood alcohol legal limit. Seventy-six percent admitted drinking alcohol while boating; 80% erroneously believed that it was more dangerous for the driver to be intoxicated than the passenger (n = 194). There were no differences in knowledge by gender, education, boat ownership, or seating position. Participants older than 40 years of age were more likely to know that being intoxicated makes one 10 times more likely to drown (P <.05). Younger participants (age 21–40) were significantly more likely to report drinking while boating compared to older participants (P <.05). Older participants were also more likely to own a boat and be drivers (P <.05).
Conclusions
A majority of participants imbibe while boating despite a basic understanding of the dangers in doing so. Public health officials may benefit from focusing education on the younger age group of boaters to help decrease alcohol-related morbidity and mortality.