Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Venice of America” because of the miles of inland waterways, but actually all of south Florida is bustling with thousands of boats. On weekends and holidays the normally tranquil waterways and canals become treacherous maritime raceways with frequent serious collisions and accidents.
One such accident occurred this past 4th-of-July which killed four people, then another during the Columbus Day holiday killed a 29-year-old woman. It’s not yet certain if alcohol contributed to these incidents, but nationally it is the number one cause of boating deaths cited by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2012:
Contributing Factor———————-Accidents———-Deaths———-Injuries Operator inattention——————————-581————-47————-359 Operator inexperience—————————-417————-51————-303 Improper lookout———————————–391————-13————–278 Machinery failure———————————–346————10————–115 Excessive speed———————————–310————-31————-288 Navigation rules violation————————290————13————–236 Alcohol use——————————————-280———– 109————-227 Force of wave/wake——————————-228————–06————-204 Weather————————————————221————–43————-103 Hazardous waters———————————-184————–57—————92
The Law Firm of Lazarus and Lazarus has been representing victims of boating accidents for over 20 years, and they are experts in the field of maritime law. If you or someone you know has been injured in a boating accident, contact the Fort Lauderdale attorneys who have a solid reputation protecting the rights of their clients by calling 954-356-0006
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