NASBLA Public Library

The project goal was to measure the frequency that area recreational boaters wear PFDs, depending on lake type, weather and water conditions, boat and motor type, movement and activity and age and gender of the boaters. The Minnesota study borrowed heavily on the methodology and forms utilized by JSI in the USCG study with slight modification to fit Minnesota boating nomenclature. The Minnesota DNR study had a much larger sample size and broader time frame than JSI’s to cover various water temperatures, weather conditions and boating patterns. The JSI study utilized four points of observation in the Twin Cities (Minnesota), in heavy social boating areas with 4,096 boaters observed between the 2004-2006 boating seasons. The Minnesota study conducted observations at 27 water bodies with a total of 6,699 boats with 17,406 people on board observed on weekdays and weekends from May 19 through September 16. Observation time ranged from 07:30 – 19:30 in one hour blocks. Various classes of water bodies were observed - from lakes slightly over 100 acres, a major recreational river (St. Croix) to the largest water body in the Twin Cities area, Lake Minnetonka, with a surface area of over 14,000 acres.
#Statistics
#Minnesota
#Lifejackets