Kids Infants Toddlers Life Jackets Vests Pfds

Kids, Infants & Toddlers Life Jackets, Vests, & PFDs How-Tos

Children Should Wear Life Jackets

This video will explain why it is so important for people to wear life jackets while on the water - especially you children and adolescents.

Video Transcript

Jonathan Gray: Children not in lifejackets is my pet peeve. Billy Champlin: It's very common thing that we find when we're doing water safety inspection on boats we find quite a few children or infants that don't have the correct or proper lifejacket or floatation device.

Jonathan: Children under the age of 13 must have on their lifejacket, life vest when the boat is moving.

Billy: What people need to do is make sure that that personal flotation device is by size and weight, the correct size for a small child. Because if the lifejacket is too big then it will easily slip over a small person's head and shoulders and not do any good at all if they were to need it.

Jonathan: After seeing five or six fatalities of children that really could've survived, they had the chance to survive had they had a lifejacket on but for that decision, for that parent to say; You don't need your life jacket on, when the law requires it.

On one occasion in particular, on this very lake, I stopped a boat that had a husband and wife and the woman was holding the baby. A newborn, maybe six-months old and I took it kind of personal I said, Ma'am, why don't you have that baby in a lifejacket? And she said, Well, he gets cranky when I put him in a lifejacket. And I told her, I get cranky when you don't have him in a lifejacket. She got a ticket for that.

Don't expect a break from me if I catch you on the lake with your children not on a lifejacket.

Boating Safety Violations - What Officers Look For

This Boat-Ed safety course video interviews officers who talk about what boating safety violations they look for on the water such as impaired operators, boaters not wearing life jackets (especially children), speeding, improper seating of passengers on the boat, etc.

Video Transcript

[Speaker1].

First and foremost the things we're always looking for is impaired operators that have being possibly out there drinking too much. Good easily of spotting that is people who are operating their vessel or personal watercraft in a reckless or careless manner.

[Speaker2].

Secondly would be personal flotation devices and the wearing of personal flotation devices particularly on children under the age of six, they have to be worn at all times on a vessel. Speed zones are key; every prudent boater has to be aware of where he's at and the different speed zones in their area. So as officers out in the field we're always looking for boaters that are violating the speech zones.

[Speaker1].

Also vessel that don't have their passengers seated properly; if you've got a lot of people standing up in front of the operator, the operator can see in front of them or behind them which causes a problem with operator and attention.

[Speaker2].

Of course we are going to check safety equipment. We're going to ensure that our captains out there are operating safely and have all their safety equipment.

[Speaker1].

And if you don't have it available to you, it can't help you.

Courtesy of www.boat-ed.com