Life jackets should be compulsory for all recreational boaters, say researchers

A law making it mandatory to wear a life jacket while on a recreational boat resulted in a highly significant reduction in drowning deaths in one Australian state, a new study shows. The findings provide support for other states and countries to follow suit, say the authors of the study, published in the journal Injury Prevention.1

In December 2005 the state of Victoria passed legislation making it mandatory to wear a personal flotation device on all recreational boats, only the second …