Laws and Safety Equipment

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BOATING ACCIDENT REPORTS

All boating accidents must be reported to the department within 48 hours of the accident if:

• There was damage of $2000.00 or greater
• A person dies within 24 hours as a result of the accident;
• A person is disabled for more than 24 hours;
  A person requires medical treatment for injuries;
• A person disappears from a vessel.

Reports of reportable boating accidents must be made within five days.

Accident Forms

Accident reports must be on forms supplied by the department, which must be filled out in their entirety and dated and signed by the person submitting the report. Such reports shall be filed by the operator or, if no operator, by the owner of any vessel involved in the boating accident. If the operator or owner is incapable of making the report, the investigating officer shall submit the report.

Duty to Render Assistance

It shall be the duty of the operator of a vessel involved in a collision, accident, or other casualty, so far as he can do so without serious danger to his own vessel, crew, and passengers, to render to other persons affected by the collision, accident, or other casualty such assistance as may be practicable and as may be necessary in order to save them from or minimize any danger caused by the collision, accident, or other casualty and also to give his name, address, and identification of his vessel in writing to any person injured and to the owner of any property damaged in the collision, accident, or other casualty.

Good Samaritan Claus

Any person who gratuitously and in good faith renders assistance at the scene of a vessel collision, accident, or other casualty without the objection of any person assisted, shall not be held liable for any civil damages as a result of the rendering of assistance or for any act of assistance in providing or arranging salvage towage, medical treatment, or other assistance if the assisting person acts as a reasonably prudent man would have acted under the same or similar circumstances.