Alcohol Dangers
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. But what you might not know is that a boater is even more likely to become impaired than a driver of a car.
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 almost as much as if you were legally drunk. Adding alcohol intensifies the effects, and each drink multiplies your accident risk.
Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard Boating
Drinking alcohol also deteriorates cognitive abilities and judgment, which makes it harder to process information, assess situations, and make good choices. Balance and coordination are impaired, and reaction time increased. Alcohol also causes decreased peripheral and night vision as well as depth perception and makes it harder to distinguish colors, particularly the all-important red and green of boat navigation lights and aids to navigation. An extra risk factor: Most boaters don't have the benefit of operating a boat every day as they do with the family car and are much less experienced driving a boat and less able to react appropriately and quickly to a potential accident.
BASED ON AN ARTICLE IN USBOAT