Boat Smart. Boat Safe. Wear it.

Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf is alerting those who go boating that they will encounter hazards and risks.  It is important to make an emergency less likely to happen by managing those risks, such as wearing a life jacket. “Playing safely will make your time on the water much more fun, he said.”

During National Safe Boating week, May 20-26, the emphasis will be on safety on the water, especially the use of life jackets by everyone on or near the water.

Leaf said life jackets can be the difference between life and death in many boating accidents. Each year, on average, 700 people die in boating related accidents and eight of every 10 victims were not wearing a life jacket. “Thousands of people would be alive today had they taken the simple precaution of wearing a life jacket when they went out on the water,” said Virgil Chambers, executive director of the National Safe Boating Council.

Leaf also stressed the importance of regular maintenance checks of life jackets. When jackets fail to inflate properly, the results can be life threatening.

The national safety campaign is designed to reach more than 70 million boaters in North America and bring this year’s life-saving message: Boat Smart. Boat Safe. Wear it.

The campaign is a partnership of the National Safe Boating Council, the U.S. Coast Guard and National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.