Ohio steps up patrols, targets impaired boaters

The U.S. Coast Guard says Ohio tied with Illinois with 18 alcohol-related accidents last year and trailed only Florida and Wisconsin, which had 25 and 19 respectively, the Dayton Daily News (http://bit.ly/O3iefA) reported Saturday. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Watercraft is joining units throughout the nation this weekend in Operation Dry Water, an effort to increase or concentrate patrols in problem areas to watch for impaired boating.

Alcohol is the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, and was the leading factor in 16 percent of recreational boating deaths last year, according to the Coast Guard. Alcohol was a factor in five boating deaths and 21 injuries in Ohio in 2011.

Boating impairment also is increasingly involving drug use as well as alcohol use, said Todd Doncyson, law enforcement administrator for the Division of Watercraft.

"We're not out to ruin a person's good time, but we're talking about serious risk," Doncyson said. "It's not always the operator, sometimes it's someone falling overboard. So many people can be affected."

Division of Watercraft officials said alcohol use in boating is different than in driving for several reasons, including the number of environmental factors involved in operating a boat.

"With a car, most people know how to operate the vehicle, so the keys can be given to someone else," said Lance Hopkins, the Division of Watercraft's area supervisor for the Cincinnati field office. "If someone takes a bunch of friends out on a boat, a lot of times no one else on that boat knows how to operate the vehicle."