Alcohol’s dangers are well documented.

Most people know that alcohol affects judgment, vision, balance, and coordination, which greatly increase the likelihood of accidents. The Coast Guard says that in alcohol-related fatalities, more than half the victims capsized their boats or went overboard. A boater is even more likely to become impaired than a driver of a car.

Stressors

Stressors, such as exposure to noise, vibration, sun, glare, wind, and the motion of the water affect our skills when we drive a boat. Research shows that hours of exposure to these stressors produce a kind of a fatigue, or “boater’s hypnosis,” which slows reaction time. Enough time that it is almost as much as if you were legally drunk. Adding alcohol intensifies the effects, and each drink multiplies your accident risk.

Drinking alcohol deteriorates cognitive abilities and judgment. This makes it harder to process information, assess situations, and make good choices. Your balance and coordination are impaired, and your reaction time is increased. Alcohol causes decreased peripheral and night vision as well as depth perception. Alcohol makes it harder to distinguish colors, particularly the all-important red and green of boat navigation lights.

Extra Risk Factor

There is an extra risk factor which alcohol presents: Most boaters don’t have the benefit of operating a boat every day as they do with the family car. The result is they are much less experienced driving a boat and less able to react appropriately and quickly to a potential accident.