Personal Watercraft Insurance, Personal Watercraft Manufactuerer’s Estimates
Personal watercraft are a type of recreational boat that has become increasingly popular in recent years. Manufacturers estimate that about 200,000 Personal Watercraft are sold each year and that more than 1 million are in current operation. Personal watercraft now account for more than one-third of the new recreational boat sales in the United States.
Although the overall number of recreational boating fatalities has been declining in recent years, the number of personal watercraft-related fatalities has been increasing. At the time of the National Transportation Safety Board’s 1993 recreational boating safety study, there were only 26 personal watercraft fatalities a year, and the Safety Board did not believe that separate consideration of PWC was warranted.
However, in 1994, the number of PWC fatalities began to increase noticeably because the number of PWC in operation increased. Preliminary numbers for 1997 indicate 83 Personal Watercraft fatalities. Personal watercraft are the only type of recreational vessel for which the leading cause of fatalities is not drowning; in personal watercraft fatalities, more persons die from blunt force trauma than from drowning. The increase in fatalities and the distinctive way in which fatalities occur prompted the Safety Board to examine the nature of personal watercraft accidents.
